Balancing the Budget: A Limited Detail Approach to Flood Studies
Publication: World Environmental and Water Resources Congress 2009: Great Rivers
Abstract
Floodplain or inundation mapping studies are performed for a variety of reasons, and are many times only one phase of a larger engineering or mapping project. As is often the case, many communities and agencies write their scope so that their project's flood studies are performed in accordance with FEMA guidelines, with the intention of incorporating those studies onto FEMA's flood maps in the future. More times than not, this results in the development of a project scope that would fit FEMA's definition of a "detailed study" — field survey, development of the 10-, 50-, 100-, and 500-year flood profiles, etc. However, in certain instances, it may be appropriate to apply a more "limited" detail approach to the study area, while still being able to meet project objectives. This paper will focus on the various floodplain study methodologies that have been accepted by FEMA (approximate, limited detail, and detailed), when and where each study type can be used, and the similarities and differences between the three. The limited detail approach will specifically be explained and highlighted as a potential solution to bridge the gap that often exists between budget and accuracy needs. Several case studies will be presented to show the difference in steady flow HEC-RAS modeling and mapping results between the study types.
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Copyright
© 2009 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Published online: Apr 26, 2012
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Budgets
- Business management
- Case studies
- Construction engineering
- Construction management
- Engineering fundamentals
- Federal government
- Field tests
- Financial management
- Floods
- Geomatics
- Government
- Information management
- Mapping
- Methodology (by type)
- Organizations
- Practice and Profession
- Project management
- Research methods (by type)
- Surveying methods
- Terminology and definition
- Tests (by type)
- Water and water resources
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