Comparative analysis of overland flow models using finite volume schemes

Abstract

In this paper attention is first focused on a comparative analysis of three hydraulic models for overland flow simulations. In particular, the overland flow was considered as a 2D unsteady flow and was mathematically described using three approaches (fully dynamic, diffusive and kinematic waves). Numerical results highlighted that the differences among the simulations were not very important when the simulations referred to commonly used ideal tests found in the literature in which the topography is reduced to plane surface. Significant differences were observed in more complicated tests for which only the fully dynamic model was able to provide a good prediction of the observed discharges and water depths. Then, attention is focused on the fully dynamic model and in particular on the analysis of two numerical schemes (TVD-MacCormack and HLL) and the influence of the grid size. Numerical tests carried out on irregular topography show that, as the grid size decreases, the performance of the HLL scheme becomes closer to that of the TVD-MacCormack scheme in shorter computational times at least for high rainfall intensity. © IWA Publishing 2012.