- 1Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering, University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY, UK (rs3195@bath.ac.uk)
- 2Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering, University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY, UK (trk23@bath.ac.uk)
- 3Institute for Resilient Infrastructure Systems, School of Environmental, Civil, Agricultural and Mechanical Engineering, University of Georgia, US (matt.chambers@uga.edu)
- 4Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, US (hmoftakhari@eng.ua.edu)
- 5School of Engineering, University of Greenwich, Chatham Maritime ME4 4TB, UK (i.stamataki@greenwich.ac.uk)
- 6Faculty of Environment, School of Geography, University of Leeds, Woodhouse Lane Leeds LS2 9JT, UK (itssolly@gmail.com)
Nature-based solutions (NBS) have gained increasing attention in flood management since the early 2000s as sustainable alternatives or complements to conventional flood defence strategies. Based on a systematic review of 1,080 published studies, we provide recommendations for implementing common NBS intervention types in flood management using the HEC-RAS modelling framework. The review considered published case studies ranging from small catchments of approximately 0.09 km² to large river basins exceeding 2,400 km².
The potential interventions explored include reforestation/afforestation, floodplain reconnection, wetland restoration, channel re-meandering, and the hybridization or removal of grey infrastructure. The recommendations detail how to adjust key parameters within HEC-RAS to effectively represent these interventions. For instance, increasing Manning's roughness coefficients can simulate the added vegetative roughness from reforestation. Likewise, modifying the digital elevation model allows for the representation of floodplain reconnection, benching, or channel modifications. By offering quantifiable methods and a clear linkage between interventions and hydraulic parameters, this work equips practitioners and researchers with the necessary tools to model flood mitigation strategies using NBS within HEC-RAS. To generalise the findings beyond HEC-RAS and make them applicable to other hydraulic modelling platforms, each intervention is linked to specific terms in the governing equations: conservation of mass and momentum equations, highlighting how parameters such as friction slope are affected.
How to cite: Sabeti, R., Rodding Kjeldsen, T., Chambers, M., Moftakhari, H., Stamataki, I., and Simmonds, S.: Assessing Nature-Based Solutions using the HEC-RAS modelling system: a review , EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-1168, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-1168, 2025.
