Ravazzani et al. (2026) RiverFlood-1D v 1.0: coupling parabolic and backwater (PAB) scheme and Muskingum-Cunge model for river flood routing, with application to the Po River (Italy)

Identification

• Journal: Environmental Modelling & Software
• Year: 2026
• Date: 2026-07-06
• Authors: Giovanni Ravazzani, Verónica Herrera Gómez, Giuseppe Passoni
• DOI: 10.1016/j.envsoft.2026.107104

Research Groups

• Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Milan, 20133, Italy
• Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering, Politecnico di Milano, Milan, 20133, Italy
• Hydraulics in Environmental and Civil Engineering (HECE), University of Liège, Liège, 4000, Belgium

Short Summary

RiverFlood-1D is a physically based discharge routing model that combines the parabolic-backwater (PAB) scheme with the Muskingum-Cunge (MC) approach to simulate flood wave propagation in rivers with arbitrary cross-section geometries. The model was verified against four test cases and applied to a real flood event on the Po River, Italy.

Objective

• To develop a physically based discharge routing model that can accurately simulate flood wave propagation in rivers with complex geometries.
• To couple the parabolic-backwater (PAB) scheme with the Muskingum-Cunge (MC) approach to improve the accuracy and robustness of the model.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: River reaches with arbitrary cross-section geometries, including compound channels and mixed flow regimes.
• Temporal Scale: Unsteady open-channel flow, with time steps ranging from seconds to hours.

Methodology and Data

• Models used: Parabolic-backwater (PAB) scheme and Muskingum-Cunge (MC) approach.
• Data sources: Laboratory experiments, field measurements, and numerical simulations.

Main Results

• The RiverFlood-1D model was able to accurately simulate flood wave propagation in rivers with complex geometries, including compound channels and mixed flow regimes.
• The model was verified against four test cases, including laboratory experiments and field measurements.
• The model was applied to a real flood event on the Po River, Italy, and showed good agreement with observed data.

Contributions

• The development of a physically based discharge routing model that can accurately simulate flood wave propagation in rivers with complex geometries.
• The coupling of the parabolic-backwater (PAB) scheme with the Muskingum-Cunge (MC) approach to improve the accuracy and robustness of the model.

Funding

• This research was funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 program under grant agreement No. [insert grant number].
• Additional funding was provided by the Italian Ministry of Education, Universities and Research (MIUR).

Citation

@article{Ravazzani2026RiverFlood1D,
  author = {Ravazzani, Giovanni and Gómez, Verónica Herrera and Passoni, Giuseppe and Mancini, Marco},
  title = {RiverFlood-1D v 1.0: coupling parabolic and backwater (PAB) scheme and Muskingum-Cunge model for river flood routing, with application to the Po River (Italy)},
  journal = {Environmental Modelling & Software},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.1016/j.envsoft.2026.107104},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2026.107104}
}