Development of a Hydraulic Modelling Platform Within an Open-Source Environment

Flood risk management represents a true technical challenge because of complex interactions between a variety of physical, environmental and economic factors. Appropriate computational modelling may prove very useful to understand underlying physical phenomena, appraise scenarios and devise overall management schemes encompassing catchment basins and city areas. There is a continuing tendency towards merging hydraulic modelling with advanced numerical technology, such as database linked to measuring data or patrimonial data, GIS, more and more accurate ground elevation models, real-time control which implies strong interaction between monitoring platforms, measurement networks and hydraulic modelling software. It is therefore necessary to use modelling software connected to standard software components (database and GIS frameworks) in order to take best advantage of these data. Besides, public clients favour hydraulic models which are developed with free software components in order to ensure their sustainability and updating, as recalled by the French government note 5608/SG from 19 November 2012. In order to comply with this double requirement, Setec Hydratec has developed new model interfaces in an open-source environment: Hydra platform, in collaboration with Oslandia and IGN.