Triangular-prism-based algorithm on urban flood inundation simulation by employing dichotomy numerical solution

Triangular Irregular Network (TIN), especially Constrained Delaunay Triangular Irregular Network (CD-TIN), has been proven to be more accurate for the modeling of complex urban terrain, compared with raster represented digital elevation model (DEM). DEM with high precision is of importance to simulate urban flood inundation. In the paper, the triangular-prism sets are introduced to calculate the inundation water surface within each basin. It is worth mentioning that the explored dichotomy numerical solution is efficient on the simulation of the inundation depth. The case of ramp-shape urban terrain validates the correctness of the algorithm. And the application of the “7.21” storm in main campus of Beijing Normal University (BNU) verifies the usability and practicality of the algorithm. The cases demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed algorithm for simulation of urban flood inundation associated with urban surface runoff and drainage system capacity information.