Simulating Hurricane Storm Surge in the Lower Mississippi River under Varying Flow Conditions
Publication: Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 139, Issue 5
Abstract
Hurricanes in southeastern Louisiana develop significant surges within the lower Mississippi River. Storms with strong sustained easterly winds push water into shallow Breton Sound, overtop the river’s east bank south of Pointe à la Hache, Louisiana, penetrate into the river, and are confined by levees on the west bank. The main channel’s width and depth allow surge to propagate rapidly and efficiently up river. This work refines the high-resolution, unstructured mesh, wave current Simulating Waves Nearshore + Advanced Circulation () SL16 model to simulate river flow and hurricane-driven surge within the Mississippi River. A river velocity regime–based variation in bottom friction and a temporally variable riverine flow-driven radiation boundary condition are essential to accurately model these processes for high and/or time-varying flows. The coupled modeling system is validated for riverine flow stage relationships, flow distributions within the distributary systems, tides, and Hurricane Gustav (2008) riverine surges.
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Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) New Orleans District (MVN) and the USACE System-Wide Water Resources and Morphos Programs. Computational resources and support were provided by the University of Texas at Austin Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC). Permission to publish this paper was granted by the Chief of Engineers, USACE.
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© 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers.
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Received: Dec 6, 2011
Accepted: Nov 2, 2012
Published online: Nov 5, 2012
Published in print: May 1, 2013
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