Coastal areas are subject to the joint risk associated with rainfall-driven flooding and storm surge hazards. To capture this dependency and the compound nature of these hazards, bivariate modelling represents a straightforward and easy-toimplement approach that relies on observational records. Most existing applications focus on a single tide gauge-rain gauge/streamgauge combination, limiting the applicability of bivariate modelling to develop high-resolution space-time design events that can be used to quantify the dynamic, that is, varying in space and time, compound flood hazard in coastal basins. Moreover, there is a need to recognize that not all extreme events always come from a single population, but can reflect a mixture of different generating mechanisms. Therefore, this paper describes an empirical approach to develop design storms with high-resolution in space and time (i.e., ~5 km and hourly) for different joint annual exceedance probabilities. We also stratify extreme rainfall and storm surge events depending on whether they were caused by tropical cyclones (TCs) or not. We find that there are significant differences between the TC and non-TC populations, with very different dependence structures that are missed if we treat all the events as coming from a single population. While we apply this methodology to one basin near Houston, Texas, our approach is general enough to make it applicable for any coastal basin exposed to compounding flood hazards from storm surge and rainfall-induced flooding.
Bridge deck drainage is essential to prevent hydroplaning and maintain safety along major roadways. With projected changes in climate, current designs may not be sufficient and a better understanding of the primary controls (climate, bridge deck, and inlet design) on the hydraulic efficiency and sediment removal of drainage systems is needed to maintain public safety. To evaluate the controls on hydraulic drainage efficiency, 576 controlled laboratory experiments were conducted testing grate type (rectangular bar vs. curved vane) and downspout configuration (square vs. circular and 20 cm vs. 25 cm) across a range of flow rates, cross slopes, and longitudinal slopes. An additional 144 sediment erosion experiments were performed to identify controls on the removal of sediment. Hydraulic testing indicated that inflow driven by climate is a primary control on drainage efficiency and spread of water on a roadway. For anthropogenic controls, downspout opening size was found to be the primary control followed by longitudinal slope. Sediment removal results indicated that inflow regime and grate type were the primary controls on the sediment removal rate. Given that inflow, driven by climate, is a control on both hydraulic and sediment removal performance, hydraulic engineers should consider forecasted changes in rainfall intensity in their present-day drainage designs. We provide design guidance and discussion for developing a proactive approach to hydraulic infrastructure in the face of future climate uncertainty.
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