Stormwater Inundation Analysis in Small and Medium Cities for the Climate

Change Using EPA-SWMM and HDM-2D

Author(s): Sung Eun Kim, Sangeun Lee, Dongwook Kim, and Chang Geun Song
Source: Journal of Coastal Research, 85(sp1):991-995.
Published By: Coastal Education and Research Foundation
https://doi.org/10.2112/SI85-199.1
URL: http://www.bioone.org/doi/full/10.2112/SI85-199.1

BioOne (www.bioone.org) is a nonprofit, online aggregation of core research in the biological, ecological,
and environmental sciences. BioOne provides a sustainable online platform for over 170 journals and books
published by nonprofit societies, associations, museums, institutions, and presses.
Your use of this PDF, the BioOne Web site, and all posted and associated content indicates your acceptance of
BioOne’s Terms of Use, available at www.bioone.org/page/terms_of_use.
Usage of BioOne content is strictly limited to personal, educational, and non-commercial use. Commercial
inquiries or rights and permissions requests should be directed to the individual publisher as copyright holder.

BioOne sees sustainable scholarly publishing as an inherently collaborative enterprise connecting authors, nonprofit publishers, academic institutions,
research libraries, and research funders in the common goal of maximizing access to critical research.
 Journal of Coastal Research SI 85 991-995 Coconut Creek, Florida 2018

Stormwater Inundation Analysis in Small and Medium Cities for

the Climate Change Using EPA-SWMM and HDM-2D
Sung Eun Kim†, Sangeun Lee‡, Dongwook Kim§, and Chang Geun Song††*
‡Urban ††
†
Water Environment Research Research Division §
Department of Civil & Department of Safety
Department Korea Research Institute of Environmental Engineering Engineering www.cerf-jcr.org
National Institue of Environmental Human Settlements Incheon National University Incheon National University
Research Sejong-si, Republic of Korea Incheon, Republic of Korea Incheon, Republic of Korea
Incheon, Republic of Korea
ABSTRACT

Kim, S.E.; Lee, S.; Kim, D., and Song, C.G., 2018. Stormwater Inundation Analysis in Small and Mediun Cities for
the Climate Change Using EPA-SWMM and HDM-2D. In: Shim, J.-S.; Chun, I., and Lim, H.S. (eds.), Proceedings
from the International Coastal Symposium (ICS) 2018 (Busan, Republic of Korea). Journal of Coastal Research,
Special Issue No. 85, pp. 991–995. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208.

The increase of rainfall intensity and flash-flood due to climate change are expected to exacerbate flood inundation in
urban area. Especially, small and medium cities lacking drainage facilities are more vulnerable to flood inundation
www.JCRonline.org
than large cities. This study introduces a simplified urban stormwater inundation simulation modelling for the two
small and medium-sized cities located in South Korea using the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Storm
Water Management Model (SWMM) and a HydroDynamic Model-2D(HDM-2D). EPA-SWMM model which are
widely used to the runoff analysis of urban areas containing drainage pipe network, was used to calculate runoff flow
and surcharged overflow of the existing urban drainage network. Then, a 2-D inundation model, HDM-2D was coupled
with 1-D EPA-SWMM model to simulate the flood propagation in urban areas. The 1-D/2-D coupled model was
calibrated with the real rainfall events and applied to analyze the effect of climate change on urban stormwater
inundation for the 30-year frequency of design rainfall calculated by RCP 4.5 of the IPCC RCPs. In a simplified
inundation analysis based on 1-D/2-D coupled simulation, the small-scale urban flooding in the small and medium
cities was rapidly propagated within two hours after the occurrence of a surcharge overflow. The flooding wave
propagation was highly related to the flow interaction with topographical obstacles as road, and bottom elevation or
slope.

ADDITIONAL INDEX WORDS: flood inundation, small and medium-sized cities, climate change, EPA-SWMM,
HDM-2D.

INTRODUCTION This study introduces a simplified urban stormwater inundation

With rapid urbanization, and the increase of rainfall intensity
due to climate change, small-scale urban flooding is expected to
occur frequently. Especially, small and medium cities with poor
drainage systems are more vulnerable to flood inundation than
large cities. Consequently, there is a growing need for a modeling
tool considering the drainage system and urban flood propagation.
Paz et al.(2011) shows the initial efforts of developing a
modeling system composed by coupling a 1D flow routing model
to a 2D-raster based model to simulate urban inundation.
Adeogun et al.(2012, 2015) developed the 1D-2D hydrodynamic
inundation model that combines an existing 1D sewer network
model(SWMM) with 2D indundation model. The model was
applied for the small-scale urban flooding with the purpose of
examing flood incidence due to surcharged water on overland
surface. Leandro and Martins(2016) presented a methodology for
linking 2D overland flow models with the storm sewer model
SWMM5 to simulate the interaction between the sewer netork
and the overland flow. Several coupled 1D-2D models for urban
floods have been developed and applied (Leandro et al., 2009;
Seyoum et al., 2012).
____________________
DOI: 10.2112/SI85-199.1 received 30 November 2017; accepted in
revision 10 February 2018.
*Corresponding author: baybreeze119@inu.ac.kr
©
Coastal Education and Research Foundation, Inc. 2018
simulation modelling for the two small and medium-sized cities
located in South Korea using the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) Storm Water Management Model (SWMM;
Rossman, 2010) and a HydroDynamic Model-2D(HDM-2D;
Song and Oh, 2016).
The remainder of this paper is organized as follows. We first
provide the methodology for simulating the urban inundation
using EPA-SWMM and HDM-2D. Next, we describe the
development of EPA-SWMM and HDM-2D in the study areas,
followed by an calibration of the model. We then appled the
model to predict the small-scale urban flooding by the design
rainfall for the climate change. The final section provides a
conclusion.
METHODS
Methodology
A simplified urban stormwater inundation simulation model
were developed by the process as shown Figure 1. First, EPA-
SWMM was developed using the topographic data, sewer
network, and CN number through GIS analysis. Next, the
propagation of the sewer overflow from the EPA-SWMM were
simulated by HDM-2D. Then, the EPA-SWMM were calibrated
with comparing the calculated inundation area and depth by
HDM-2D with the observed data. Calbrated model were applied
992

Kim et al.
________________________________________________________________________________________________

to predict the small-scale urban flooding by the design rainfall for 11.90 5.65 76.26
the climate change. 6.13 12.72 65.1
17.14 13.87 67.44
7.79 13.43 65.73
12.48 5.54 73.00
13.14 9.85 74.56
14.93 8.70 66.18
6.19 9.26 71.35
8.03 9.56 63.14
4.07 11.38 72.37

Table 2. Simplified Sewer Networks.

(unit: km)
Length of
City Full Length
Simplified Sewer
Watershed of Sewer Netowrk
Netowrk
Songjung 47.85 16.97
Pocheon 462.30 218.50

Figure 1. Process for the coupled modeling of EPA-SWMM and HDM-

2D.

Development of EPA-SWMM and HDM-2D for the Study

Area
The study areas are Songjung and Pocheon City in Gyeonggi
Province, South Korea. These cities have been severely damaged
by the inundation of sewer overflow in 2011 and 2016,
respectively. Each study area was divided into several irregular
subcatchments considering the characteristics of the spatial
variation of topography and hydro-information of urban Figure 2a. Simplified Sewer Network of Songjung Watershed.
catchment such as the sewer network systems. Then, the sewer
network systems were simplified with the main sewer pipes
which have the diameter of more than 600 mm. Junctions were
identified basse on the simplified sewer network. The
topographical data of devided subcatchments and simplified
sewer networks are shown in Table 1, Table 2 and Figure 2.

Table 1.Basic Subcatchment Topographical data.

City Averaged
Areas(km2) CN
(# of Subcatchment) Slope(%)
7.69 75.07 69.56
6.59 18.06 57.81 Figure 2b. Simplified Sewer Network of Pocheon Watershed
Sonnjung 3.13 61.92 67.52
(6) 8.97 65.02 62.32
6.70 45.73 61.59
6.50 12.16 51.25
2.71 12.17 65.80 Simulating the propagation of sewer overflow at junctions is
3.44 11.27 59.56 an important in small-scale unrban flood modeling. This study
3.04 11.59 64.47 applied a shallow water flow model, HDM-2D(Hydrodnymic
Pocheon
1.43 11.24 65.28 Model-2D). To delineate the model domain for 2-D computation,
4.88 16.28 56.5 the building and roads of the study urban catchments were
(19)
15.69 13.20 61.92 explicitly considered as the example shown in Figure 3.
8.67 15.69 59.78
15.86 15.72 67.33
5.24 9.22 68.29

Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 85, 2018

 993

Stormwater Inundation Analysis in Small and Medium Cities

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Figure 4b. Sewer overflow of EPA-SWMM for Songjung watershed

Figure 3. An example of finite element layout for simulating the 2-D

inundation. Figure 4c. Comparison of HDM-2D results with reported data in
Songjung watershed.

RESULTS
Calibration of Model
Reliable inundation data are exceptionally scarce for most 25 250
cities in the world, in terms of both spatial and temporal coverage
during an event (Pathirana et al., 2011). We also have no proper 20 200
data for calibrating and validating the models on the sewer

Cumulative rainfall (mm)

overflow at the junctions and 2-D flood wave propagation. In this
Rainfall (mm)

15 150

study, established EPA-SWMM and HDM-2D for the study area

were calibrated by comparing the inundation-depth by HDM-2D 10 100

modeling for the sewer overflow by SWMM with the inundation-

depth in the areas where inundation-depth were reported or 5 50

observed. The rainfall events in 2011 and 2016 that have caused
0 0
the severe damage to the two study urban catchments by the
0:30
1:00
1:30
2:00
2:30
3:00
3:30
4:00
4:30
5:00
5:30
6:00
6:30
7:00
7:30
8:00
8:30
9:00
9:30

11:00
11:30

12:30
13:00

14:30
15:00

16:00
10:00
10:30

12:00

13:30
14:00

inundation of sewer overflow were applied to the EFA-SWMM 15:30 Time (hh:mm)
model. Figure 4 and Figure 5 shows the rainfall events applied to
each watershed and the inundation-depth which were calibrated Figure 5a. Rainfall events in Pocheon Watershed on July 5th in 2016.
and reported.

70 300

60 250
2011.07.27
Cumulative rainfall (mm)

50
200
Rainfall (mm)

40
150
30
100
20

10 50

0 0
Figure 5b. Sewer overflow of EPA-SWMM for Pocheon watershed.
0:00
1:00
2:00
3:00
4:00
5:00
6:00
7:00
8:00
9:00

0:00
18:00

20:00

22:00

11:00

13:00

15:00

17:00

19:00

21:00

23:00
17:00

19:00

21:00

23:00

10:00

12:00

14:00

16:00

18:00

20:00

22:00

Time (hh:mm)

Figure 4a. Rainfall events in Songjung watershed on July 26th in 2011.

Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 85, 2018

994

Kim et al.
________________________________________________________________________________________________

Figure 5c. Comparison of HDM-2D results with reported data in Pocheon

watershed.

Figure 7a. Small-scale urban Figure 7b. Small-scale urban

Small-scale Urban Flooding for the Climate Change flooding in Songjung at t= 50 flooding in Songjung at t= 60
The urban inundation in the study areas for the climate change min. min.
was simulated with the 30-year frequency of design rainfall
calculated by RCP 4.5 of the IPCC RCPs. The surcharged
junctions(manholes) and their sewer overflow results by EPA-
SWMM for each study area is shown as Figure 6.

2.5 0
Rainfall
10
J1-2
2.0 20
J1-3
30
Sewer Overflow(CMS)

Figure 7c. Small-scale urban Figure 7d. Small-scale urban

Rainfall (mm)

1.5 40
50 flooding in Songjung at t= 70 flooding in Songjung at t= 80
1.0 60 min. min.
70
0.5 80
90
0.0 100
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
Time (min)

Figure 6a. Surcharged junctions and sewer overflow in Songjung.

2.5 0
Rainfall
10
J17
2.0 20
Sewer Overflow (CMS)

30
Rainfall (mm)

1.5 40
50
1.0 60
70
0.5 80
90
0.0 100
0:00 0:10 0:20 0:30 0:40 0:50 1:00 1:10 1:20 1:30 1:40 1:50 2:00 2:10
Time (hh:mm)
Figure 8a. Small-scale urban Figure 8b. Small-scale urban
flooding in Pocheon at t= 50 min. flooding in Pocheon at t= 70 min.
Figure 6b. Surcharged junctions and sewer overflow in Pocheon.

In Songjung watershed, the surcharged sewer overflow occured

at the junction J1-2 and J1-3 with a maximum flow rate of about
1.5 CMS, and was rapidly propagated to areas with low elevations
along large roads(Figure 7). In Pocheon watershed, the
surcharged sewer overflow occured at a junction J17 with a
maximum flow rate of about 2.0 CMS. A junction J17 is located Figure 8c. Small-scale urban Figure 8d. Small-scale urban
at the area with a lower elevation than surrounding area. flooding in Pocheon at t= 90 flooding in Pocheon at t=110
Therefore, the surcharged sewer overflow at a junction J17 was min. min.
stagnant and accumulated(Figure 8).

Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 85, 2018

 995

Stormwater Inundation Analysis in Small and Medium Cities

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Seyoum, S. D.; Vojinovic, Z.; Price, R. K. and Weesakul, S., 2012.

DISCUSSION
The small-scale urban flooding in the small and medium-sized
cities was rapidly propagated within two hours after the
occurrence of a surcharge overflow in the 1-D/2-D coupled
simulation of this study. The flooding wave propagation was
highly related to the flow interaction with topographical obstacles
as road, and bottom elevation or slope.
Coupled 1D and noninertia 2D flood inundation model for
simulation of urban flooding. ASCE J. Hydraulic Eng.,
138(1), 23-34.
Song, C.G. and Oh, T., 2016. Transient SU/PG modelling of
discontinuous wave propagation. Progress in Computational
Fluid Dynamics, 16(3): 146–162.

CONCLUSIONS
This study simulated the urban stormwater inundation in the
small and medium-sized cities using the coupled model of EPA-
SWMM and HDM-2D. The 1-D pipe flow simulation of the
existing urban drainage network was performed by EPA-SWMM
and show at which junction and how much the surcharged sewer
overflow occurs. Then, a 2-D inundation model, HDM-2D was
coupled with 1-D EPA-SWMM model to simulate the flood
propagation in urban areas. The 1-D/2-D coupled model was
calibrated with the real rainfall events and applied to analyze the
effect of climate change on urban stormwater inundation.
1-D/2-D coupled model used in this study is simple and can
give a quick prediction of flood with an acceptable accuracy. We
expect that the coupled model can be used as an useful tool for
flood map in the small and medium-sized cities.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work was supported by Incheon National University
Research Grant in 2014.

LITERATURE CITED
Adeogun, A.G.; Pathirana, A. and Daramola, M.O., 2012. 1D-2D
hydrodynamic model coupling for inundation analysis of
sewer overflow. J. Eng. Appl. Sci., 7 (5), 356–362.
Adeogun, A.G.; Daramola, M.O. and Pathirana, A., 2015.
Coupled 1D-2D hydrodynamic inundation model for sewer
overflow. Water Science, 29(2015),146–155.
Leandro, J.; Djordjević, S.; Chen, A.S. and Savic, D. A. 2009. A
comparison of 1D/1D and 1D/2D coupled hydraulic models
for urban flood simulation. J. Hydr. Engng., 135(6): 495–
504
Leandro, J. and Martins, R., 2016. A methodology for linking 2D
overland flow models with the sewer network model
SWMM 5.1 based on dynamic link libraries. Water Sci.
Technol., 73(12), 3017-3026.
Pathirana, A.; Tsegaye, S.; Gersonius, B. and Viravamoonthy, K.,
2011. A simple 2-D inundation model for incorporating
flood damage in urban drainage planning. Hydrol. Earth Syst.
Sci., 15, 2474-2761.
Paz, A.R.; Meller, A. and Silva, G.B.L., 2011. Coupled 1D-2D
hydraulic simulation of urban drainage system: model
development and preliminary results. In Proceedings of the
12nd International Conference on Urban Drainage, Porto
Alegre/Brazil, 11-16 September 2011.
Rossman L. A., 2010. Storm water management model user's
manual, version 5.0 (p. 276). Cincinnati, OH: National Risk
Management Research Laboratory, Office of Research and
Development.

Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 85, 2018