Fast Simulation of Sewer Flow using Cellular Automata Simulation rapide des débits en réseau utilisant des automates cellulaires

As the climate changes and urbanisation occurs the risk of flooding is increasing. Numerical modelling can help to indicate the location and degree of flooding under given conditions. This aids engineers to improve the design of sewer systems at critical locations. Modelling also aids the planning process and real time management to mitigate the flooding impact. To be able to do this in real time low computation times are required. Fast computation can be difficult to obtain using traditional modelling methods, such as the Saint Venant Equations, due to their complexity. Thus there have been a number of attempts to obtain faster but still highly accurate conceptual models. A number of fast models have been developed, however, their accuracy is often lower than those which use the Saint Venant Equations. In this paper a Cellular Automata sewer simulator will be presented which is both fast and accurate. The new model has been tested using a small theoretical network that has been designed to fully test the model’s capabilities.