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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Water Management".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (11 February 2023) | Viewed by 8583

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Slavisa Trajkovic

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Guest Editor

Faculty of Civil Engineering and Architecture, University of Niš, 18000 Niš, Serbia
Interests: natural hazards; hydroinformatics; evapotranspiration

Prof. Dr. Momcilo Markus

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Guest Editor

Prairie Research Institute, Illinois State Water Survey (ISWS), University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801, USA
Interests: stochastic hydrology; hydroclimatology; statistical hydrology; data mining; riverine nutrients; precipitation frequency; flood frequency; climate change
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Dr. Milan Stojković

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Guest Editor

Jaroslav Černi Water Institute, 11226 Belgrade, Serbia
Interests: hydrology; climate change; water resources management; system dynamics

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue aims to bring together researchers in the domain of flood risk management related to civil infrastructure. It will encompass the newly developed methods for flood risk assessment as well as the applications of existing approaches to quantify the flood-related risk within civil infrastructure facilities such as river reservoirs, water system facilities, flood embankments, roads, dams, etc.

Papers can address hydrological and analysis methods needed for flood risk assessment, with a focus on the observed, predicted or projected changes in recorded extreme precipitation and flood events. Moreover, this Special Issue will contain research regarding the flood risk quantification of existing or planned civil infrastructure (e.g., flood embankments, roads, dams) via the application of hydrological and hydraulics models. Papers will be invited on the general topics of reservoir flood risk examination under severe hydrological events alongside possible failures of the reservoir system elements. Moreover, the Issue will promote dam safety aspects through the planning or design phases, with consideration of potentially hazardous events caused by extreme flow conditions.

Innovation in the domain of flood risk management has already been adopted in many countries for dealing with the risks related to climate change and variability, as well as risks stemming from aging infrastructure. Civil infrastructure was designed under the assumption of climate stationarity, and therefore a great deal of financial resources are required for repair and maintenance. The goal of this Special Issue of Sustainability is to cover research and application studies regarding advances in flood risk management to cope with the aforementioned pressures, leading to an increase of civil infrastructure resilience and sustainability.

Prof. Dr. Slavisa Trajkovic
Prof. Dr. Momcilo Markus
Dr. Milan Stojković
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

flood risk assessment
resilience
climate change
climate variability
aging infrastructure
built environment
sustainability

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

14 pages, 2200 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Estimation of Large River Design Floods Using the Peaks-Over-Threshold (POT) Method

by Slobodan Kolaković, Vladimir Mandić, Milan Stojković, Goran Jeftenić, Danilo Stipić and Srđan Kolaković

Sustainability 2023, 15(6), 5573; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15065573 - 22 Mar 2023

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1226

Abstract

This research analyzes the peaks-over-threshold (POT) method for designed flood estimation needed to plan river levees, spillways and water facilities. In this study, a one-parameter exponential probability distribution has been modified by including the coefficient of λ, which represents an average number of floods and enables return period calculation within the specified period of time. The study also compares results using the Log-Pearson Type III distribution of maximum annual flows and a standard exponential distribution of the selected peaks over the threshold level. The aforementioned approach represents the standard mathematical tools for river flood design, while the proposed modification of the exponential distribution highlights the estimation of flood quantiles with longer return periods (e.g., 100, 1000 and 10,000 years). Moreover, the sensitivity analysis of the threshold selection is proposed to assist in the flood design flow estimation alongside the proposed modification of the exponential probability distribution. The study was carried out at the Danube River, and the Novi Sad hydrological station (Republic of Serbia) was used for the long-term recorded period from 1876 to 2015. The results suggest that the POT method derives more reliable estimates of design floods than the traditional statistical tools for flood estimation. The results suggest the theoretical values of the water level of the 10,000 years return period is equal to 867 cm, while the Log-Pearson Type III distribution of annual maximum flows underestimated this value for 14 cm. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Flood Risk Management and Civil Infrastructure)

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26 pages, 24598 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Pluvial Flash Flood Hazard and Risk Mapping in Croatia: Case Study in the Gospić Catchment

by Nino Krvavica, Ante Šiljeg, Bojana Horvat and Lovre Panđa

Sustainability 2023, 15(2), 1197; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15021197 - 09 Jan 2023

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2507

Abstract

Since the beginning of the 21st Century, Europe has been affected by destructive floods. European Union Member States have an obligation to develop flood hazard and flood risk maps as support to the Flood Risk Management Plan (FRMP). The main objective of this study is to propose a methodological framework for hazard and risk assessment of pluvial flash floods in Croatia at the catchment level, which can be integrated into the FRMP. Therefore, a methodology based on the source–pathway–consequence approach for flood risk assessment is presented, which complies with the EU Floods Directive. This integrated and comprehensive methodology is based on high-resolution open data available for EU Member States. Three scenarios are defined for a low, medium, and high probability, defined by design storms of different durations. The proposed methodology consists of flood hazard analysis, vulnerability assessment, and risk analysis. Pluvial flash flood hazards are analyzed using a 2D hydrologic–hydraulic model. The flood vulnerability assessment consists of a GIS analysis to identify receptors potentially at risk of flooding and an assessment of susceptibility to potential flood damage using depth–damage curves. Flood risk is assessed both qualitatively in terms of risk levels and quantitatively in terms of direct damages expressed in monetary terms. The developed methodology was applied and tested in a case study in the Gospić catchment in Croatia, which surrounds a small rural town frequently affected by pluvial flash floods. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Flood Risk Management and Civil Infrastructure)

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25 pages, 8374 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Floods and Their Impact on Cultural Heritage—A Case Study of Southern and Eastern Serbia

by Ana Momčilović Petronijević and Predrag Petronijević

Sustainability 2022, 14(22), 14680; https://doi.org/10.3390/su142214680 - 08 Nov 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2109

Abstract

This paper analyzes flood impact on the historical objects and cultural heritage in Southern and Eastern Serbia. The basic research problem is the lack of systematized databases regarding the flood impact on the cultural heritage, in addition to the lack of official manuals or other types of educational material dealing with the management of the assets with monumental properties in flood situations. The goal of the paper is to indicate this problem to the professional and wider public through systematization and classification of the observed damages on the buildings. The paper first provides a brief overview of the development of flood protection throughout history with particular reference to the research area. In addition, the history of floods in Serbia is also analyzed in order to point to the frequency and scale of this problem in the researched area. Through the research of archival materials in the appropriate institutions as well as direct recording of assets in the field, the degree of flood impact on historical objects in the territories of Southern and Eastern Serbia is determined. It refers to both declared cultural monuments and those that are still undeclared but possess certain monumental properties. Only the material damages on the immovable cultural assets have been analyzed. The protection of the movable cultural assets has not been taken into consideration, although it represents a very important aspect of every flood damage. A classification of the damages observed on these types of buildings, which occur as a direct or indirect consequence of floods, has been carried out. Examples of structural damage are presented in the paper (such as fissures, cracks, bucklings and collapse of parts or overall objects). Examples of the damages that do not threaten the stability of buildings are also presented. Here, they are divided into two groups—moisture-induced damages and biodegradation. The paper also gives examples of the damages induced by direct or indirect impacts of floods. It is from these examples that general lessons can be drawn, namely those that would be applicable to the endangered categories of cultural heritage. The classification is conducted for the purpose of better planning of preventive or rehabilitation strategies and measures for the preservation of architectural cultural heritage. Recommendations for dealing with heritage assets in the case of floods are also given. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Flood Risk Management and Civil Infrastructure)

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23 pages, 6893 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

A Data-Driven Method for Identifying Drought-Induced Crack-Prone Levees Based on Decision Trees

by Shaniel Chotkan, Raymond van der Meij, Wouter Jan Klerk, Phil J. Vardon and Juan Pablo Aguilar-López

Sustainability 2022, 14(11), 6820; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14116820 - 02 Jun 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1806

Abstract

In this paper, we aim to identify factors affecting susceptibility to drought-induced cracking in levees and use them to build a machine learning model that can identify crack-prone levees on a regional scale. By considering the key relationship between the size of cracks and the moisture content, we observed that low moisture contents act as an important driver in the cracking mechanism. In addition, factors which control the deformation at low moisture content were seen to be important. Factors that affect susceptibility to cracking were proposed. These factors are precipitation, evapotranspiration, soil subsidence, grass color, soil type, peat layer thickness, soil stiffness and levee orientation. Statistics show that the cumulative precipitation deficit is best associated with the occurrence of the cracks (cracks are characterized by higher precipitation deficits). Model tree classification algorithms were used to predict whether a given input of the factors can lead to cracking. The performance of a model predicting long cracks was evaluated with a Matthews correlation coefficient (MCC) of 0.31, while a model predicting cracks in general was evaluated with an MCC of 0.51. Evaluation of the model trees indicated that the peat thickness, the soil stiffness and the orientation of the levee can be used to determine crack-proneness of the levees. To maintain validity and usefulness of the data-driven models, it is important that asset managers of levees also register locations on which no cracks are observed. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Flood Risk Management and Civil Infrastructure)

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