Inundation simulation for urban drainage basin with storm sewer system

Copyright © 2000 Elsevier. NOTICE: this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Journal of Hydrology . Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Journal of Hydrology Vol. 234 (2000), DOI: 10.1016/S0022-1694(00)00237-7An urban inundation model, combining a storm sewer model SWMM, two-dimensional (2D) diffusive overland-flow model and operations of pumping stations, has been developed to simulate inundation in urban areas caused by the surcharge of storm sewers and outlet pumping stations. The movement of water in the studied urban watershed is characterized by two components, namely, the storm sewer flow component and the surcharge-induced inundation component. SWMM is employed to solve the storm sewer flow component and to provide the surcharged flow hydrographs for surface runoff exceeding the capacity of the storm sewers. The 2D diffusive overland-flow model considering the non-inertia equation with Alternative Direction Explicit numerical scheme is then used to calculate the detailed inundation zones and depths due to the surcharged water on overland surface. Drainage by pumping stations at outlets of the storm sewer system has also been taken into consideration. The parameters of the model are calibrated and verified for discrete storms. The combined model is suitable for analysis of inundation on urban areas due to overflow of storm sewers and flooding caused by failure of pumping stations. Simulated results can be applied to establish flood-mitigation measures

Therapeutic Applications and Mechanisms of YC-1: A Soluble Guanylate Cyclase Stimulator

Nitric oxide (NO) is an essential endogenous vasodilator to maintain vascular homeostasis, whose effects are mainly mediated by NO-dependent soluble guanylate cyclase (sGC) which catalyzes the synthesis of cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP), a critical mediator of vascular relaxation. YC-1, a novel NO-independent sGC stimulator, was first introduced as an inhibitor of platelet aggregation and thrombosis. Accumulating studies revealed that YC-1 has multiple medication potentials to use for a broad spectrum of diseases ranging from cardiovascular diseases to cancers. In contrast to NO donors, YC-1 has a more favorable safety profile and low medication tolerance. In this chapter, we introduce canonical and pathological roles of NO, review activations, and regulatory mechanisms of YC-1 on NO-independent sGC/cGMP pathway and present the potential pharmacological applications and molecular mechanisms of YC-1

Simulating the Storage and the Blockage Effects of Buildings in Urban Flood Modeling

Buildings often affect overland flow propagation in urban areas. Building walls change the direction and velocity of flow and can exclude interior spaces from flooding. However, water may intrude buildings when the flood level exceeds the height of protection. This study develops an inundation model that represents the resistance and the storage effects of buildings. This model was applied to central Taipei City, which is surrounded by the Danshui and Keelung Rivers. The inundation depth and extent were compared from models where the effects of buildings were included and excluded. Rainfall data from the Typhoon Nari event in 2001 was used in the simulation. The results showed that in the case where the effects of buildings were excluded inundation was underestimated in the metropolitan areas. Where the effects of buildings were considered in the model, the presented inundation model reproduces the inundation results more comparable with the observed flooding situation

Flood Damage Assessment in Taipei City Taiwan

In this study, we reviewed the literature on flood damage assessment and collected information for related research in Taiwan to analyze the relationships between direct flood damage, flood frequency, flood depth, and land-use. The procedure for flood damage assessment was then developed that includes the following steps: (a) Scenario simulation of inundation potential. (b) Establishment of the relationship between inundation depth and damage loss for varied land-use. (c) Risk analysis of inundation damage. Taipei City in north Taiwan was adopted as the case study to demonstrate the proposed algorithm. Flood events with return periods of 5, 10, 25, 50, 100 and 200 years were used for flood hazard analysis to cover possible flooding scenarios. The inundation hazard maps were first generated via hydraulic modelling. The regional flood damage was then estimated using a relationship between inundation depth and damage. The flood damage exceedance probability (EP) curve for Taipei City was constructed following the association of the loss with its probability of occurrence. The flood damage EP curve was further used to integrate the damage assessments for individual flood events for a full probability range presentation of the flood risk. The expected annual damage was calculated by integrating the area under the EP curve

Impact of flood disasters on Taiwan in the last quarter century

Copyright © Springer 2006. The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11069-005-4667-7The increasing natural disasters, especially floods during the last quarter century, are raising the economic losses in Taiwan. The most severe hazard in Taiwan is flooding induced by typhoons and storms in summer and autumn. By comparing the rivers around the world, the ones in Taiwan have the steepest slopes, the largest discharge per unit drainage area, and the shortest time of concentrations. Rapid urbanization without proper land uses managements usually worsen the flood problems. Consequently, flood hazards mitigation has become the most essential task for Taiwan to deal with. Although the government keeps improving flood defense structures, the flood damage grows continuously. In this article, possible flood mitigation strategies are identified for coping with complex environmental and social decisions with flood risk involved.National Science and Technology Center for Disaster ReductionNational Science Council, RO

Sustainabilitas Arsitektur Masjid: Evaluasi Konsep “Simple Architecture” sebagai Implementasi Desain Arsitektur Berkelanjutan suatu Kawasan

Makalah ini membahas aspek-aspek “kesederhanaan” (simplicity) sebagai konsep desain bangunan masjid secara berkelanjutan (sustainable) sesuai konteks dengan mengambil studi kasus masjid kawasan Al-Irsyad Satya Kota Baru Parahyangan, Bandung. Masjid sebagai subyek arsitektur dan pusat ibadah menjadi ruang publik yang didesain dari elemen-elemen yang secara ideal mengandung nilai-nilai Islam dan bertujuan mendukung fungsinya. Desain masjid berkonsep simple atau “sederhana” digunakan sebagai alternatif kontemporer untuk mengoptimalisasi fungsi tersebut, meliputi struktur bangunan hingga biaya pemeliharaan (maintenance) sesuai prinsip keberlanjutan. Keterkaitan erat bangunan masjid dengan aktivitas masyarakat berpotensi melibatkan partisipasi masyarakat dan pengelola dalam menerapkan program sustainabilitas sesuai konteks lingkungannya. Metode yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini berbasis pendekatan Grounded Theory secara kualitatif melalui pengumpulan data dari kegiatan observasi, interview dan analisis program keberlanjutan kawasan. Penelitian menemukan keterkaitan konsep “sederhana” yang mendukung sustainabilitas desain sekaligus menggarisbawahi evaluasi konsep desain “sederhana” yang hadir serta faktor pemeliharaan/pengembangan masjid dan kawasan

Longitudinal stage profiles forecasting in rivers for flash floods

Copyright © 2010 Elsevier. NOTICE: this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Journal of Hydrology. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Journal of Hydrology Vol. 388 (2010), DOI: 10.1016/j.jhydrol.2010.05.028A flash flood routing model with artificial neural networks predictions was developed for stage profiles forecasting. The artificial neural network models were used to predict the 1-3 h lead time river stages at gauge stations along a river. The predictions were taken as interior boundaries in the flash flood routing model for the forecast of longitudinal stage profiles, including the un-gauged sites of a whole river. The flash flood routing model was based on the dynamic wave equations with discretization processes of the four-point finite difference method. Five typhoon events were applied to calibrate the rainfall-stage model and the other three events were simulated to verify the model's capability. The results revealed that the flash flood river routing model conjunction with artificial neural networks can provide accurate river stages for flood forecasting.National Science Council of Taiwa

Construction of Fuzzy Map for Autonomous Mobile Robots Based on Fuzzy Confidence Model

This paper presents the use of fuzzy models to explicitly consider sensor uncertainty and finite resolution in solving the SLAM (simultaneous localization and mapping) problem for autonomous mobile robots. The approach establishes fuzzy confidence models in describing occupied obstacles and available space. The problem is transformed into an optimization task of minimizing the alignment error between newly scanned local fuzzy maps and selected parts of a developing global fuzzy map. In aligning local fuzzy maps into a global fuzzy map, we developed a prediction strategy to crop the most potential part from the sensed local fuzzy maps to be overlapped with the global fuzzy map. A mobile vehicle equipped with a laser range finder, the Hokuyo URG-04LX, is used to demonstrate the procedure of fuzzy map building. Experimental results show that the proposed architecture is effective in generating a comprehensive global fuzzy map, which is suitable for both human comprehension and path design during real-time navigation

Flood Vulnerability and Risk Maps in Taipei City, Taiwan

This paper presents the process of constructing a flood risk map in Taipei City. The study calculates the social vulnerability index (SVI) for flooding at a district level, based on five factors including (1) female population (2) alone living elderly (3) low-income households (4) household income and (5) house-hold possessions. The index is determined according to the factor ratios in a district comparing to the statistical average across Taipei City. By combining the SVI with spatial varied flood potential information simulated by a hydraulic model, the flood risk index is obtained for district level that has an area of about 0.2 km2. Results show that the flood risk in Taipei City changed from 2002 to 2010 due to changes in the demographic structure. During the period from 2002 to 2004, the most obvious change of flood risk occurred in the Wanhua district due to the increase in the ratio of household possessions, which escalated the vulnerability to flooding. Between 2005 and 2007, the ratio of household possessions dropped in the Nankang district such that the flood risk reduced mostly in the region