A framework for micro level assessment and 3D visualisation of flood damage to a building

© 2015 Dr. Sam AmirebrahimiFlood Damage Assessment (FDA) is the key component of the flood risk management process. By highlighting the potential consequences of floods, FDA allows for an evidence-based risk management by employing optimal risk reduction measures in the community. FDA is generally performed in three main scales namely Macro, Meso and Micro. For assessing the potential flood damages at different levels, various categories of vulnerable elements (e.g. roads, people, buildings, etc.) are accounted for. Among these elements, buildings are the most notable and are considered in nearly all the current FDA methods due to their significance to the economy. In addition, with increasing risks of floods due to the climate change effects, the attention to improve the flood resilience of buildings is increasing. This leads to the need for a more profound understanding of the fluid-structure interactions and assessing the potential damages and risks to the building from floods in the early design and planning stages. Amongst the FDA methods, in contrast to the aggregated land use as the inputs of Macro and Meso models, only those Micro level assessments can provide separate analysis for the buildings. However, the current micro-level FDA models cannot account for the distinct characteristics of each building and its unique behaviour against floods. Therefore, they are associated with high uncertainties. Additionally, the current models only account for either damage from the flood loads or those as the result of floodwater contacting with water-sensitive components. This leads to incomplete outputs and further increase in the uncertainty of the results. Moreover, the existing FDA models mostly focus on the quantitative assessment of damages and do not communicate the mode/type of damage to important decision makers (e.g. designers and engineers). This inhibits the optimal selection of measures for reducing the risk to buildings. While the need of larger-scale applications are well satisfied by the existing FDA methods, the highlighted limitations hinder the use of these methods to effectively assess the damage and risks in situations where individual buildings are the focus of the analysis. To address the aforementioned limitations of the previous models, in this multidisciplinary research by adopting the Design Science Research Methodology an FDA framework was developed. This framework allows for a detailed micro-level assessment and 3D visualisation of flood damage to a building and according to its unique characteristics and behaviour against floods. The proposed processes in the framework were designed in detail according to the well-established theories in a number of related domains. Moreover, by developing a new BIM-GIS integration method, rich inputs about a building and flood parameters could be provided for the framework to effectively overcome the data input limitations of the current FDA models. The framework was realised by development of a prototype system and on the basis of the proposed guidelines. The dual evaluation of the framework using the internal validity checking as well as the use of a case study underlined the feasibility of implementation and the effective application of the framework for solving real-world problems. The benefits of the proposed framework for assessment and communication of flood damage at the building level was also highlighted to a variety of users. The framework can be employed as a complementary approach to the current FDA models for improving the resilience of the community towards floods and their adverse impacts