Arc-Malstrøm: A 1D hydrologic screening method for stormwater assessments based on geometric networks

TY - JOUR

T1 - Arc-Malstrøm

T2 - A 1D hydrologic screening method for stormwater assessments based on geometric networks

AU - Balstrøm, Thomas

AU - Crawford, David

PY - 2018/7

Y1 - 2018/7

N2 - A method is presented to perform a first screening of high-resolution digital terrain models to detect the extents and capacities of local landscape sinks. When identified their capacities and rain volumes provided from their local catchments during a rainstorm are saved as attributes for the pour points. Next, the downstream paths from the pour points are saved as junctions and edges in a geometric network leading to a final calculation of the accumulated spillover in the topologic data structure determined by a custom trace tool. Although the screening method is based on a representation of the overland surface in a 1D network not involving any hydrodynamic components, it is well suited to provide a quick first overview of a landscape's overall drainage basins, the location of sinks, their contributing watersheds and the accumulated downstream flow when the sinks spill over. The exemplified study assumes Hortonian flow and a uniform rain event, but if spatial variations in precipitation or infiltration capacities are available the local sinks' catchment level, they may easily be added to the workflow to produce first risk map approximations for residential areas threatened by future stormwater incidents.

AB - A method is presented to perform a first screening of high-resolution digital terrain models to detect the extents and capacities of local landscape sinks. When identified their capacities and rain volumes provided from their local catchments during a rainstorm are saved as attributes for the pour points. Next, the downstream paths from the pour points are saved as junctions and edges in a geometric network leading to a final calculation of the accumulated spillover in the topologic data structure determined by a custom trace tool. Although the screening method is based on a representation of the overland surface in a 1D network not involving any hydrodynamic components, it is well suited to provide a quick first overview of a landscape's overall drainage basins, the location of sinks, their contributing watersheds and the accumulated downstream flow when the sinks spill over. The exemplified study assumes Hortonian flow and a uniform rain event, but if spatial variations in precipitation or infiltration capacities are available the local sinks' catchment level, they may easily be added to the workflow to produce first risk map approximations for residential areas threatened by future stormwater incidents.

U2 - 10.1016/j.cageo.2018.04.010

DO - 10.1016/j.cageo.2018.04.010

M3 - Journal article

SN - 0098-3004

VL - 116

SP - 64

EP - 73

JO - Computers & Geosciences

JF - Computers & Geosciences

ER -