Evaluation of Maximum Flow Depths and Discharges in Drainage Network by a Simplified Model Coupled to a Variational Approach

A novel approach is presented to evaluate the maximum flow discharges and depths in drainage networks, channel and rivers, due to extreme rainfalls. The approach is based on the coupling of a simplified hydraulic model (namely, the Linearized Parabolic Model, LPM), aiming at simulating the flood propagation within a channel networks due to the rainfall, to a "variational approach", within the duration of rainfall is chanced till to obtain the reaching of the maximum instantaneous discharges or depths. The approach is tested considering several cases of study, and is suitable to be applied in real contexts, starting from the knowledge of rainfall intensity-duration-freuency relationships and the characteristics of drained basins.