Web-Based, Automated Dam-Break Flood Simulation and Mapping System for the USA

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Mustafa Altinakar, Marcus McGrath, Vijay Ramalingam

Tuesday 30 june 2015

14:35 - 14:50h at South America (level 0)

Themes: (T) Flood risk management and adaptation, (ST) Flood risk assessment

Parallel session: 6J. Floodrisk - Assessment

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The present paper describes a web-based, fully-automated, two-dimensional dam-break flood simulation and mapping system for the entire USA, which was developed integrating DSS-WISE™ Lite with DSAT (Dams Sector Analysis Tool). DSAT/DSS-WISE™ Lite capability is the result of a joint effort between the University of Mississippi National Center for Computational Hydroscience and Engineering (UM-NCCHE), the Dams Sector-Specific Agency (Office of Infrastructure Protection, DHS National Protection and Programs Directorate), the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), and Argonne National Laboratory (ANL). DSS-WISE™ Lite is a state-of-the-art, two-dimensional flood simulation software derived from DSS-WISE™ (Decision Support System for Water Infrastructural Security) software, which is an integrated system for dam/levee break/breach flood simulation, mapping and GIS-based consequence analysis software. DSS-WISE™ was developed by the UM-NCCHE within the framework of SERRI (South East Region Research Initiative) Program funded by the DHS S&T and monitored by Oak Ridge National Laboratory. DSAT is a web-based tool jointly developed by DHS and USACE in order to provide a wide range of analytical capabilities for owners and operators of public and private dams. It resides on a server hosted by ANL provides access to various analytical tools, including DSS-WISE™ Lite. The system is fully automated and operates without human intervention. It is available 24/7 and free of charge to authorized users. The statistics show that the system returns results from 90% of simulations with 30m cell size and 86% of simulations with 10m cell size within one hour. Due to its exceptional computational schemes, DSS-WISE™ Lite serves not only as a tool for screening and prioritizing dams but also as a real-time operational tool for emergency management. The system has been in operation for 34 months and handles on the average 4 to 5 simulations per day. Since the model is fast enough to provide faster-than-real-time simulations on large domains with tens of millions of cells, the system is also used as an operational model during real-life emergency situations by dam safety engineers, flood emergency managers and decision makers.