A Performance Comparison of the HEC-RAS and TELEMAC-2D Models in Flood Risk Assessment - Application to the Medjerda River

Abstract:

River flooding is one of the most frequent catastrophic events, with dramatic consequences regarding loss of life and economic damage. For this reason, flood hazard and risk management now appear as the fundamental activities that public bodies and competent authorities must implement to reduce human and socio-economic losses. In this context, this study refers specifically to the flooding at the Boussalem city, crossed by Medjerda river in Tunisia. This work aims to assess the suitability of different numerical tools for reproducing flood dynamics using two different fully two-dimensional (2D) hydrodynamic models, both based on the Saint-Venant equations: TELEMAC-2D and HEC-RAS 6.0. The study compares the accuracy and performance of the two models in estimating flood hazard and risk. Comparative analysis is conducted on flooded area extents from both models for the 2003 flood event and return periods of 20, 50, and 100 years. This is achieved by identifying the roughness coefficient for each land cover type. The comparison encompasses flooded areas for four height classes along the Medjerda River in Tunisia: <0.5m, 0.5-1m, 1-2m, >2m. Details of the analysis of the total flooded area generated by the models show that the percentage difference between the flooded areas decreases as the discharge increases, with differences of 4%, 6%, 16%, and 27% respectively for the 2003 events and the 20, 50, and 100-year return periods. This observation indicates that TELEMAC-2D tends to generate larger estimates of flooded areas as water height increases, suggesting an increased sensitivity to extreme flood events. Conversely, for depth classes of 0.5 to 1 meter and less than 0.5 meters, HEC-RAS produces larger flooded areas than TELEMAC-2D for events with return periods of 50 and 100 years. This divergence can be explained by the influence of specific modeling methodologies of the two software packages.

• Periodical: International Journal of Engineering Research in Africa (Volume 72)
• Pages: 169-186
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/p-ti9Lit
• Online since: December 2024
• Authors: Saber Hammami, Hela Romdhane, Amel Soualmia*, Azeddine Kourta
• Keywords: Flooding, HEC-RAS, Medjerda River, Risk Assessment, Simulations, TELEMAC-2D

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