Backwater Induced Floodplain Assessment November 30, 2006 GIS in Water Resources Michael Konieczki mkonieczki@mail.utexas.edu
Introduction Federal Highway Administration FEMA regulations: Problems Bridges in national highway system need crash tested rails (1968) FEMA regulations: 100-yr Floodplain cannot rise by more that 1 foot for bridge construction or modifications Problems Older bridges Effects of railings little understood
TxDOT Regulations Must pass 50-yr event Checked for FEMA compliance of 100 yr event Passage of 100-yr event not always needed Overtopping of a local street bridge in Austin. Source: City of Austin
Project Goals Develop models for analysis Pre-processing Post-processing Analyze backwater induced floodplains How significant are bridge structures? Railings? World Peace (At least with FEMA)
Study Area Colorado River Lake Austin to SH 130 Lake Austin SH 130
Data needs Pre-constuction Post-construction Flowlines Waterbodies Basins DEM’s (Digital Elevation Model) Roads Counties Post-construction use HEC-GeoRAS
HEC-GeoRAS GIS tools for HEC-RAS River models can be Basic or comprehensive Bridges modeled simply Assumes rails clog with debris Height is to top of rail Possibly a conservative estimate HEC-GeoRAS calculated floodplain. Source: HEC-GeoRAS use’s’ manual
Methods I (The Good) NHD data Texas data Used network tools to select information for Colorado River Built a geodatabase with that information Texas data Obtained through online resources Roads Counties 100yr floodplain
Methods II (The Bad) Processing a DEM into a TIN 1st: tried to process entire basin – failure 2nd: processed Travis County – success
Methods III (The Ugly) GeoRAS Load NHD data Draw cross-sections Good luck! Draw cross-sections Data entry of whatever you couldn’t load
Goals Redux Develop models for analysis Pre-processing Post-processing Analyze backwater induced floodplains How significant are bridge structures? Railings? World Peace (At least with FEMA)
Methods IV – A New Hope Calibrate GeoRAS model to 100yr floodplain For the SH 130 bridge only super extreme events will matter anyway Simulate extreme event (200-yr?) Change bridge geometry - account for railings Compare This may show us the limitations of RAS
Future Work Possibly change HEC-RAS model Better simulate bridge deck and railing systems Develop a tool via model builder Allow for easy comparison of GeoRas results
Acknowledgements Tyler Janzen for his NHD help Nishesh Mehta for his help with CO basin DEM
Questions???