NH34A-03 Integrated flood risk framework for designing climate resilient urban infrastructure systems

Pluvial (rain-driven) flooding poses a significant threat to urban areas worldwide, necessitating accurate spatial-temporal flood prediction for effective flood risk adaptation and damage mitigation. While many flood risk assessment methods exist, most address fluvial (coastal, riverine) flood risks, which differ in intensity and propagation from pluvial flooding. Currently, common pluvial flood tools lack geospecificity detailing in the model for surface flood identification and fail to address risks to various city systems from overland flow. As a result, the contribution of pluvial floods to overall flood risks is underestimated, compromising infrastructure resilience. This research proposes a pluvial flood risk assessment framework, seen in Figure 1, for urban infrastructure systems and emergency & mitigation planning, utilizing scalable high-resolution hydrodynamic modeling.

The proposed method streamlines flood risk assessment from 1&2D hydrodynamic city-scale flood modeling to predicted impacts on roads and other city infrastructure at both element and system levels. By leveraging advanced flood modeling techniques with numerical soil water infiltration model and pavement damage model. This work quantifies the flood risks, damages, and life cycle impacts on individual pavement segments and designing climate resilient transportation networks. This method offers insights into the spatial-temporal distribution of flood damages, providing a holistic view of flood risks to city pavement systems. Additionally, it facilitates informed decision-making and accurate prediction of flood impacts in urban areas and emergency management planning.