Comprehensive Review: Advancements in Rainfall-Runoff Modelling for Flood Mitigation

Abstract

Runoff plays an essential part in the hydrological cycle, as it regulates the quantity of water which flows into streams and returns surplus water into the oceans. Runoff modelling may assist in understanding, controlling, and monitoring the quality and amount of water resources. The aim of this article is to discuss various categories of rainfall–runoff models, recent developments, and challenges of rainfall–runoff models in flood prediction in the modern era. Rainfall–runoff models are classified into conceptual, empirical, and physical process-based models depending upon the framework and spatial processing of their algorithms. Well-known runoff models which belong to these categories include the Soil Conservation Service Curve Number (SCS-CN) model, Storm Water Management model (SWMM), Hydrologiska Byråns Vattenbalansavdelning (HBV) model, Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model, and the Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) model, etc. In addition, the data-driven models such as Adaptive Neuro Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS), Artificial Neural Network (ANN), Deep Neural Network (DNN), and Support Vector Machine (SVM) have proven to be better performance solutions in runoff modelling and flood prediction in recent decades. The data-driven models detect the best relationship based on the input data series and the output in order to model the runoff process. Finally, the strengths and downsides of the outlined models in terms of understanding variation in runoff modelling and flood prediction were discussed. The findings of this comprehensive study suggested that hybrid models for runoff modeling and flood prediction should be developed by combining the strengths of traditional models and machine learning methods. This article suggests future research initiatives that could help with filling existing gaps in rainfall–runoff research and will also assist hydrological scientists in selecting appropriate rainfall–runoff models for flood prediction and mitigation based on their benefits and drawbacks.