Hydrodynamic Analysis of Floods in Urban System

Abstract

Urban peak flows in metropolitan areas increase with urbanization. Demands for water supply, hydropower, and navigation, among other purposes, are also increased. This creates a complex water system problem that requires rational water use. A hydrologic‐hydrodynamic model was developed in order to simulate a river network system with hydraulic structures in an urban watershed. The hydrologic module was assembled with algorithms for the most important components of the hydrologic cycle in the basin, using six parameters. The hydrodynamic module solves the Saint Venant equations through an implicit forward finite difference scheme. The model developed was applied to simulate floods in the metropolitan region of Sao Paulo, which is the largest industrial complex in Latin America with 12,000,000 inhabitants.