Validation and Use Cases

Extensive model validation ensures that scenarify's simulations accurately represent water behavior across various scenarios, from controlled lab experiments to real-world environments. Our validation approach relies on validation against laboratory and real-world cases.

Validation Against Laboratory Cases

Lab-based validation involves using laboratory test scenarios to validate hydraulic models, where controlled conditions allow for precise measurement of parameters such as flow rate, depth, and velocity. This step provides a foundation for validating the software before applying it to real-world conditions.

Example: Thiès

In Thiès, Tatard et al. (2008) conducted a rainfall-runoff experiment on a 10x4 m² plot with a 1% slope, simulating rainfall at a rate of 70 mm/h for one hour to measure flow velocities across 62 locations. Using this dataset, the model validation compared the first-order and the second-order scheme, with the second-order scheme providing a clearer depiction of flow paths and velocity patterns and showing overall good agreement, see Buttinger et al. 2022.

Real-World Validation Cases

Validation against real-world cases compares simulation results with observed data from actual hydrological events. This approach assesses the model's effectiveness in predicting and replicating behaviors in real catchments, floodplains, and urban areas impacted by water flow dynamics. Here is a list of example regions where scenarify has been validated against observed events:

Lobau

The Lobau area serves as a validation region for wetland and floodplain dynamics. The Danube river flood of January 2011 was use to refine scenarify's predictions of flood inundation and retention. The measured and simulated water levels are in very good agreement, see also Buttinger et al. 2019 and Horváth et al. 2020.

HOAL Petzenkirchen

The Hydrologic Open Air Laboratory (HOAL) in Petzenkirchen is known for extensive research on water flow and infiltration. Comparative studies here have provided insights into the model's accuracy in simulating infiltration and surface runoff for different cell sizes and infiltration parameters, see Buttinger et al. 2022.

Marchfeld

This area is significant for flood simulations and floodplain dynamics, with validation studies focusing on flood behavior in river confluence zones, see Horváth et al. 2020.

Use Cases

Here is a list of selected reference projects and case studies where scenarify has been used:

• Hochwasserrisikozonierung Austria (HORA): Nationwide flood risk map detailing river flood hazard for Austria.
  

• Starkregengefahrenkarte Hamburg: Flood hazard zones for heavy rain events with coupled sewer network in Hamburg, Germany.

• Starkregengefahrenkarte Köln: Flood hazard zones for heavy rain events in Cologne, Germany.

• Sturzflutgefahrenkarten RLP: Flood hazard zones for flash floods in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.

• Standardreferenzverfahren LUBW: This certification (received by our project partner DAHLEM) demonstrates that scenarify is a reliable flood simulation tool, capable of successfully producing precise heavy rain hazard maps.
  

References

(Buttinger et. al 2019) Buttinger-Kreuzhuber, A., Horváth, Z., Noelle S., Blöschl, G., and Waser, J. 2019. A fast second-order shallow water scheme on two-dimensional structured grids over abrupt topography. Advances in Water Resources 127: 89–108.
Publication available online: 10.1016/j.advwatres.2019.03.010

(Buttinger et. al 2022) Buttinger-Kreuzhuber, A., Konev, A., Horváth, Z., Cornel, D., Schwerdorf, I., Blöschl, G., and Waser, J., 2022. An integrated GPU-accelerated modeling framework for high-resolution simulations of rural and urban flash floods. Environ. Modell. Softw. 105480.
Publication available online: 10.1016/j.envsoft.2022.105480

(Horváth et al. 2020) Horváth, Z., Buttinger-Kreuzhuber, A., Konev, A., Cornel, D., Komma, J., Blöschl, G., Noelle, S., Waser, J. 2020. Comparison of fast shallow-water schemes on real-world floods. J. Hydraul. Eng. 146 (1): 05019005.
Publication available online: 10.1061/(ASCE)HY.1943-7900.0001657