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A comprehensive review of watershed flood simulation model

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Abstract

Flooding is a major threat that presents a significant risk to human survival and development worldwide. Regarding flood risk management, flood modeling enables understanding, assessing, and forecasting flood conditions and their impact. This paper gives an overview of prevailing flood simulation models given their potentials and limitations for reflecting pluvial floods in watershed settings. The existing models are categorized into hydrologic, hydrodynamic, and coupled hydrologic-hydrodynamic models. The coupled hydrologic-hydrodynamic model can be further classified into full, external, and internal coupling models. The definitions, advantages, and limitations of each coupling model are discussed. It is found that the existing coupling types cannot accurately reflect the flood evolution processes. A dynamic bidirectional coupled hydrologic-hydrodynamic model is then detailed, where the watershed is spatially divided into inundation and non-inundation regions. These two regions are connected by a coupling moving interface. Only 2D hydrodynamic models are applied to the local inundation regions to ensure numerical accuracy, whereas the fully distributed hydrologic model is applied to non-inundation regions to improve computational efficiency. Future investigation should focus on the development of a dynamic bidirectional coupling procedure that can accurately represent the complex physical interactions between upstream rainfall-runoff and the local inundation process. This paper would help flood managers and potential users undertake effective flood modeling tasks, balancing their needs, model complexity, and requirements of input data and time.

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Abbreviations

DBCM:

Dynamic bidirectional coupled hydrologic-hydrodynamic model

USLE:

Universal soil loss equation

RUSL:

Revised universal soil loss equation

MUSLE:

Modified universal soil loss equation

Ann AGNPS:

Annualized agricultural non-point pollutant loading model

SCS-CN:

Soil conservation service curve number

SWMM:

Storm water management model

SWAT:

Soil and water assessment tool

HEC:

Hydrologic Engineering Center

HSPF:

Hydrological simulation program-Fortran

TOPMODEL:

Topography-based hydrologic model

INCA:

Integrated nitrogen model for catchments

HYPE:

Hydrological predictions for the environment

GSSHA:

Gridded surface/subsurface hydrologic analysis

WAM:

Watershed assessment model

ANSWERS:

Areal nonpoint source watershed environment response simulation

HM2D:

Full 2D hydrodynamic model

BMI:

Basic model interface

LARSIM:

Large area runoff simulation model

HEC-RAS:

Hydrologic Engineering Center-River Analysis System

HEC-HMS:

Hydrologic Engineering Center-Hydrologic Modeling System

GEMSS:

Generalized environmental modeling system for surface waters

SCS-LR:

Soil conservation service and a lag-and-route (LR) model

EFDC:

Environmental fluid dynamics code

WASP:

Water quality analysis simulation program

WATLAC:

A water flow model for lake catchments

HIMS:

Hydroinformatic modeling system

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the National Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 52179068) and the Key Laboratory of Hydroscience and Engineering (Grant No. 2021-KY-04). The authors thank the anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments.

Funding

This study was supported by the National Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 52179068) and the Key Laboratory of Hydroscience and Engineering (Grant No. 2021-KY-04).

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Correspondence to Chunbo Jiang.

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Cite this article

Shen, Y., Jiang, C. A comprehensive review of watershed flood simulation model. Nat Hazards 118, 875–902 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-023-06047-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-023-06047-1

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