Modeling of Storm-Water Response under Large Tailwater Conditions: Case Study for the Texas Medical Center
Publication: Journal of Hydrologic Engineering
Volume 12, Issue 3
Abstract
Intense rainfall over coastal areas characterized by significant urban development, predominantly clay soils, and flat slopes can cause significant flooding problems. Extreme floods in coastal areas occur when storm-water systems lose capacity due to high levels in receiving streams. The Texas Medical Center is located near downtown in Houston, Texas, and extensive flooding during Tropical Storm Allison in June of 2001 crippled many of the facilities with approximately $1.5 billion in damages. In order to better understand dynamic responses and to design abatements to the existing infrastructure, the performance of the storm-water pipe systems under extreme receiving water conditions in a highly urbanized area was quantified by using an integrated model. A hydrologic/hydraulic model was created based on the storm water management model with NEXRAD radar rainfall and hydrographs generated from Hydrologic Engineering Center’s hydrologic modeling system. The model was accurately calibrated against historic storm events. The simulated double-peaked hydrographs explained that the significant backwater effects in Harris Gully worsened the flooding situation within streets by limiting storm-water outflow and overland flow. The analysis evaluated the existing storm-water system to identify potential pathways for overland flow and pipe flow to the receiving bayou, and proposed mitigation alternatives by incorporating additional major sewers to bypass the main culverts in the Harris Gully area in order to provide significant flood relief.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
Baun, S. A., Bagtzoglou, A. C., Anagnostou, M. N., Knox, R. G., and Anagnostou, E. N. (2004). “Progress towards developing a radar calibration method for improved rainfall estimation.” Proc., Conf. on Engineering, Construction and Operations in Challenging Environments, ASCE, Reston, Va., 290–298.
Bedient, P. B., Hoblit, B. C., Gladwell, D. C., and Vieux, B. E. (2000). “NEXRAD radar for flood prediction in Houston.” J. Hydrol. Eng., 5(3), 269–277.
Bedient, P. B., Holder, A., Benavides, J., and Vieux, E. B. (2003). “Radar-based flood warning system applied to Tropical Storm Allison.” J. Hydrol. Eng., 6(8), 308–318.
Bedient, P. B., and Huber, W. C. (2002). Hydrology and floodplain analysis, 3rd Ed., Prentice-Hall, Upper Saddle River, N.J.
Cera, T. B., Tremwel, T. K., and Burleson, R. W. (1996). “Use of ARC/Info, EPA-SWMM, and UNIX text processing tools to determine flood extent.” Proc., Symp. on GIS and Water Resources, AWRA, Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., 407–416.
Curtis, T. G., and Huber, W. C. (1993). “SWMM AML-An ARC/INFO processor for the Storm Water Management Model (SWMM).” Proc., Runoff Quantity and Quality Modeling Conf., USEPA, Reno, Nev.
DeVries, J. J., and Hromadka, T. V. (1992). “Computer models for surface water.” Handbook of hydrology, D. R. Maidment, ed., McGraw-Hill, New York, 21.1–21.39.
Donigian, A. S., and Huber, W. C. (1991). “Modeling of nonpoint source water quality in urban and non-urban areas.” EPA/600/3-91/039,Environmental Research Laboratory, USEPA, Athens, Ga.
Droegemeier, K. K., et al. (2000). “Hydrological aspects on weather prediction and flood warnings: Report of the Ninth Prospectus Development Team of the U.S. Weather Research Program.” Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 81(11), 2665–2680.
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). (1998). FIRM flood insurance rate map: Harris County and incorporated areas, Washington, D.C.
Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD). (1984). Criteria manual for design of flood control and drainage facilities, Houston.
Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD). (1988). “Hydrology for Harris County.” ASCE Seminar, Houston.
Hellweger, F. L., and Maidment, D. R. (1999). “Definition and connection of hydrologic elements using geographic data.” J. Hydrol. Eng., 4(1), 10–18.
Huber, W. C. (1992). “Experience with the U.S. EPA SWMM model for analysis and solution of urban drainage problems.” Inundaciones y redes de drenaje urbano, J. Dolz, M. Gomez, and J. P. Martin, eds., Colegio de Ingenieros de Caminos, Canales Y Puertos, Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain, 199–220.
Huber, W. C. (1995). “EPA storm management model—SWMM.” Computer models of watershed hydrology, V. P. Singh, ed., Water Resources Publications, Highlands Ranch, Colo., 783–808.
Huber, W. C., Zollo, A. F., Tarbox, T. W., and Heaney, J. P. (1991). “Integration of the SWMM runoff block with ARC/INFO and AutoCAD: A case study.” Final Rep., to Foster-Wheeler Enviresponse, Inc. and U.S. EPA, Dept. of Environmental Engineering Sciences, Univ. of Florida, Gainesville, Fla.
Hydrologic Engineering Center (HEC). (1990). HEC-1, flood hydrograph package, user’s manual, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Davis, Calif.
Hydrologic Engineering Center (HEC). (1995). HEC-RAS: River analysis system user’s guide, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Davis, Calif.
Hydrologic Engineering Center (HEC). (1998). HEC-HMS: Hydrologic modeling system, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Davis, Calif.
James, W. (2001). Models and applications to urban water systems. Monograph 9, Computational Hydraulics International, Guelph, Ont., Canada.
James, W. P., Robinson, C., and Bell, J. F. (1993). “Radar-assisted real-time flood forecasting.” J. Water Resour. Plann. Manage., 119(1), 32–44.
Johnson, D., Smith, M., Koren, V., and Finnerty, B. (1999). “Comparing mean areal precipitation estimates from NEXRAD and rain gauge networks.” J. Hydrol. Eng., 4(2), 117–124.
Maidment, D., and Djokic, D. (2000). Hydrologic and hydraulic modeling support with geographic information systems, Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc., Redlands, Calif., 216.
Metcalf and Eddy, Inc., Univ. of Florida, and Water Resources Engineers, Inc. (1971). Storm water management model, Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C.
Mimikou, M. A., and Baltas, E. A. (1996). “Flood forecasting based on radar rainfall measurement.” J. Water Resour. Plann. Manage., 122(3), 151–156.
Morin, J., Rosenfield, D., and Amitai, E. (1995). “Radar rain field evaluation and possible use of its high temporal and spatial resolution for hydrological purposes.” J. Hydrol., 172, 275–292.
Peters, J. C., and Easton, D. L. (1996). “Runoff simulation using radar rainfall data.” Water Resour. Bull., 32(4), 753–760.
Singh, V. P., and Woolhiser, D. A. (2002). “Mathematical modeling of watershed hydrology.” J. Hydrol. Eng., 7(4), 270–292.
Sun, X., Mein, R. G., Keenan, T. D., and Elliott, J. F. (2000). “Flood estimation using radar and rain gauge data.” J. Hydrol., 239, 4–18.
Thomas, G. T. (2002). “Using ArcGIS to link urban storm-water software (SWMM) and economic flood damage analysis software (HEC-FDA).” Proc., Int. 22nd Annual ESRI User Conf., San Diego.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). (1995). SWMM windows interface user’s manual, Standards and Applied Science Division, Washington, D.C.
Vieux, B. E., and Bedient, P. B. (1998). “Estimation of rainfall for flood prediction from WSR-88D reflectivity: A case study, 17–18 October, 1994.” Weather Forecast., 13(2), 407–415.
Vieux, B. E., and Bedient, P. B. (2004). “Evaluation of urban hydrologic prediction accuracy for real-time forecasting using radar.” Proc., 18th Conf. on Hydrologic Symp. on Planning, Now-Casting, and Forecasting in the Urban Zone, American Meteorology Society, Seattle, J1.3.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Hydrologic Engineering
Volume 12 • Issue 3 • May 2007
Pages: 256 - 266
Copyright
© 2007 ASCE.
History
Received: Dec 14, 2005
Accepted: Sep 22, 2006
Published online: May 1, 2007
Published in print: May 2007
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.