2D-Hydraulic Modeling of the Rossum Drive Reach of the Big Thompson Flood Recovery
In September of 2013 devastating flooding wrecked havoc in Colorado's northern front range. In 2016, I developed a 2D hydraulic model
of a portion of the Big Thompson river that had been heavily impacted. Of note, a large pond had been filled with sediment and a local
pumpkin patch and golf course were flooded.
This modeling work explored three scenarios; 1. As-is streamflow response, 2. Adding a single auxillary channgel, and 3. Adding two auxillary channels.
I did not have streamflow to calibrate to, so instead, used observations from the an engineer with the City of Loveland to calibrate based on observed inundation
at a known flows.
Velocity and shear stress from the model were used by a colleague to design bank stabilization using the willow-post method.
Hour senior design team was awarded
first place at CSU's Senior Design Showcase in Spring 2016.
Model results at various discharges. As-Is, 1 Channel, 2 Channels, with overview, and zoom on channels.
Simulations generated using
SRH-2D with
AQUAVEO's Surface-Water Modeling System.
I recommend playing at 2X, or skipping ahead manually. This video is long. These timestamps are not linked,
but can guide you to a specific portion of the video.
0:00: As-Is Overhead - 0:59: Alt1 Overhead - 2:06 Alt2 Overhead - 3:59: Alt2 Zoomed - 5:04: Channel
1 Detailed - 5:30: Channel 2 Detailed