Discharges of past flood events based on historical river profiles

Abstract

This paper presents a case study on the estimation of peak discharges of extreme flood events during the 19th century of the Neckar River located in south-western Germany. It was carried out as part of the BMBF (German Federal Ministry of Education and Research) research project RIMAX (Risk Management of Extreme Flood Events). The discharge estimations were made for the 1824 and 1882 flood events, and are based on historical cross profiles. The 1-D model Hydrologic Engineering Centers River Analysis System (HEC-RAS) was applied with different roughness coefficients to determine these estimations. The results are compared (i) with contemporary historical calculations for the 1824 and 1882 flood events and (ii) in the case of the flood event in 1824, with the discharge simulation by the water balance model LARSIM (Large Area Runoff Simulation Model). These calculations are matched by the HEC-RAS simulation based on the standard roughness coefficients.