Comparison of flood hazard assessment criteria for pedestrians with a refined mechanics-based method

Abstract

Floods have caused severe destruction and affected communities in different ways throughout history. Flood events are being exacerbated by climate change and hence it is increasingly necessary to have a more accurate understanding of various aspects of flood hazard, particularly for pedestrians. The focus of this study is therefore to investigate different criteria to assess the flood hazard for pedestrians and to propose improvements in assessing such hazards. The revised mechanics-based approach reported herein gives results based on a full physical analysis of the forces acting on a body and can be universally applied as the method can be fine-tuned for different region of the world. The results from flood hazard assessments can be used to: design evacuation plans, improve resilience of sites prone to flooding and plan more resilient future developments. Extreme flood events in the UK and documented for Boscastle (2004) and Borth (2012) were used as case studies. Two approaches were considered, including: (i) a mechanics-based approach, and (ii) an experimental-based approach, with the criteria for the stability of pedestrians in floods being compared for the criteria used by regulatory authorities in Australia, Spain, UK and USA. The results obtained in this study demonstrate that the mechanics-based methods are preferable in determining flood hazard rating assessments.