Hyper-resolution hydrodynamic simulation of cities : the case of Austin, Texas

Flooding is one the deadliest natural disasters in the world. In the United States, the National Water Model, launched in August 16, 2016, is a breakthrough in flood forecasting. It is limited, however, in urban landscapes. This thesis is a step in filling that gap by shifting the focus of modeling to cityscapes, the City of Austin (CoA), Texas as the test case. First, to understand the hydrologic features of the city, a robust information database was created. Second, a 2D hydrodynamic model (FREHD) was used to simulate rainfall of varying intensities in an area within the city. Finally, flow directions were extracted from FREHD to depict flow paths and they were compared to results obtained from the widely used D8 algorithm. Results underscored the significance of having a robust information database and the applicability of a hydrodynamic model to generate flow directions and flow paths. It was concluded that while terrain greatly affects flow paths, it is still a complex phenomenon in an urban landscape.