The challenge
The frequency of flood events is rising
In 2011 Melbourne's City of Port Phillip had an extraordinary flood event. This demonstrated, quite clearly, what the area might be facing in terms of future flooding with sea level rise and increased rainfall.
The area traditionally floods because it's built on swamp land, so it gets a significant amount of rainfall that doesn't have anywhere to go. If the coastal conditions, like storm surge, or a king tide cause some restrictions on the coastline, this can further increase the chances of a flooding event.
Our response
Introducing 3D flood modelling
A clear understanding of flood behaviour gives emergency managers and planners the knowledge they need to make informed decisions about risks and infrastructure requirements.
Using computational fluid dynamics, we've developed a high resolution 3D flood modelling technique that delivers realistic water simulations including difficult-to-model behaviours such as wave motion, flow of solids, wave fragmentation and splashing.
The program takes information about urban infrastructure and conditions – such as canals and weather forecast data – and comes up with a visual representation of what might happen if there was flooding.
The results
Informed decision making
Compared to traditional 'bucket-fill' methods, our fluid modelling technique provides greater insight into fluid flow impacts at the local level.
Armed with this detailed knowledge, the City of Port Phillip now has a stronger understanding of what future flooding in the area might look like.
It has also allowed their planners and engineers to start to model possible mitigation solutions in order to evaluate their effectiveness.