Section: Application Domains

Simulation of extreme events

The models and methods developed within this research line aim to support decision-making in the field of flood crisis management. This concerns various types of floods.

• rainfall-induced floods, stemming from intense rainfall events (see 3.2.3, 3.4.1, 3.4.2),

• fluvial floods

• fast rising flood waves induced by dam/dike break or tsunami waves (see 3.3.1, 3.2.2),

• coastal submersion (storm surges).

The aforementioned models and methods can be used at the three stages of the flood crisis.

• Before the crisis, models can be run offline to assess the vulnerability and resilience of alternative urbanization schemes, rescue actions and mitigation policies to various meteorological/coastal scenarios. This includes the simulation of extreme forcings (wind, wave and/or rainfall fields) from a limited set of available records, see subsection 3.3.2.

• During the crisis, either fast-running porosity models or pre-computed scenarios may be used to support real-time decision-making for rescue actions.

• After the crisis, data and experience collected at the crisis stage may be used to enrich the simulation database, better parametrize the models and methods.