A Cellular Automata Based Rainfall-Runoff Model for Urban Inundation Analysis Under Different Land Uses

Abstract

Recently many runoff models based on cellular automaton (CA) have been developed to simulate floods; however, the existing models cannot be readily applied to complex urban environments. This study proposes a novel rainfall-runoff model based on CA (RRCA) to simulate inundation. Its main contributions include a fine runoff generation process that considers 12 urban scenarios rather than a single land use type and the confluence process determined by the new transition rules considering water supply and demand (WS-WD transition rules). RRCA was compared with another CA based flood model (E2DCA). With the benchmark model, the results showed that there was good agreement, with an R-squared greater than 0.9, and that RRCA was more sensitive to waterlogging levels than E2DCA. Furthermore, the simulated vegetation interception, infiltration and drainage processes had varying degrees of impact on waterlogging. Corresponding measures can be taken in urban flood management according to the identification of areas experiencing drainage difficulties.