Numerical Simulation of Flood Inundation due to Dam and Levee Breach

A numerical model has been developed to simulate flood inundation due to dam and levee breach. The model solves the conservative form of the two-dimensional shallow water equations using a finite volume method. The intercell flux is computed by upwind method and the water-level-gradient is evaluated by weighted average of both upwind and downwind gradient. The newly developed model is tested with various types of examples, including a partial dam-break problem, oblique hydraulic jump due to contraction of a side boundary, and a real life case of flood wave propagation in the Toce River Valley. It is found that the scheme is inherently robust and stable, and is able to predict complex flow phenomena that involve subcritical flows, supercritical flows, transcritical flows, overland flows, and overtopping flows.