Urban Flood Simulation Using MODCEL—An Alternative Quasi-2D Conceptual Model

Abstract

Urban flood modelling has been evolving in recent years, due to computational facilities as well as to the possibility of obtaining detailed terrain data. Flood control techniques have also been evolving to integrate both urban flood and urban planning issues. Land use control and flow generation concerns, as well as a set of possible distributed measures favouring storage and infiltration over the watershed, also gained importance in flood control projects, reinforcing the need to model the entire basin space. However, the use of 2D equations with highly detailed digital elevation models do not guarantee good results by their own. Urban geometry, including buildings shapes, walls, earth fills, and other structures may cause significant interference on flood paths. In this context, this paper presents an alternative urban flood model, focusing on the system behaviour and its conceptual interpretation. Urban Flood Cell Model-MODCEL is a hydrological-hydrodynamic model proposed to represent a complex flow network, with a set of relatively simple information, using average values to represent urban landscape through the flow-cell concept. In this work, to illustrate model capabilities, MODCEL is benchmarked in a test proposed by the British Environmental Agency. Then, its capability to represent storm drains is verified using measured data and a comparison with Storm Water Management Model (SWMM). Finally, it is applied in a lowland area of the Venetian continental plains, representing floods in a complex setup at the city of Noale and in its surroundings.

A Time-Integrated Index for Flood Risk to Resistance Capacity

“…Additionally, a dual drainage approach supports this model: surface flow, open channels and storm sewers can be linked, so the flow can occur simultaneously on both layers-surface and underground [40]. A more detailed description of MODCEL can be found in several published papers [41,42].…”

A Framework to Evaluate Urban Flood Resilience of Design Alternatives for Flood Defence Considering Future Adverse Scenarios

“…In order to obtain information on flood patterns for different scenarios, hydrologic and hydrodynamic modelling tools were used to support the simulation of a rainfall event with 25 years of RP. Flooding characteristics were obtained using the Urban Flow Cell Model-MODCEL [53,54]. This model is based on the original work by Zanobetti and Lorgeré [55]; it assumes that the watershed can be subdivided into various types of flow-cells which interact with each other through 1D flow Equations, representing the watershed surface and its flow pattern, including a set of varied hydraulic structures.…”

MODCEL vs. IBER: a comparison of flooding models in Riohacha, a coastal town of La Guajira, Colombia

“…The model is a composition of zero-dimensional elements (tank-type cells), of mono-dimensional ones (e.g. the cells that compose a channel are 1D) and of equations that express the laws of water interchange (e.g., a weir, or the flow through an orifice); in the whole, however, it is almost 3D, since it can represent the flow on the surface in various directions, the flow in the underground sewage network and also its pseudo-vertical connections [11]. Being a schematic-conceptual model, MODCEL's variables express the equivalent (or piezometic) elevation of the water level in each cell (more precisely, at a conceptual reference point of the cell).…”