Investigation of flood inundation using hydraulic simulation software. The case study of Peinios river.

The 2007/60/EC Directive implementation by European Member States requires flood hazard and flood risk maps for low, medium (likely return period ≥100 years) and high flood probability. In this context, hydraulic models can be used to simulate flood events and map the resulting flooded areas. The resolution and accuracy of the results obtained by the hydraulic models constitute the most important tools for risk assessment and taking the corresponding decisions. Particularly in this study, the efficiency of three hydraulic models is initially investigated to simulate a specific flood event of a region where observed topographic gradients are considered relatively small. The models used in this study are: the 1D HEC-RAS, the quasi 2D LISFLOOD-FP and the 2D MIKE FLOOD. Specifically, the results from the work of Oikonomou (2013) concerning the HEC-RAS and LISFLOOD-FP models are directly compared to those of the present analysis. Moreover to broaden the comparison, MIKE FLOOD was added to the analysis. Additionally, models are also compared to each other based on applications using simplified topographies and scenarios thus, leading to conclusions about their particularities and performances. Similarly, HEC-RAS and LISFLOOD-FP results were formulated within the framework of the analysis of Oikonomou (2013). The whole study was carried out using unsteady flow conditions schemes.