Predicting Flood Inundation after a Dike Breach Using a Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) Neural Network

• Published in: Hydrology 2024-09, Vol.11 (9), p.152
• Main Authors: Besseling, Leon S., Bomers, Anouk, Hulscher, Suzanne J. M. H.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Computation; dike failure; Dikes (Engineering); Environmental aspects; Flood forecasting; Flood predictions; Flooding; Floodplains; Floods; Hydrodynamics; Hydrofoil boats; Learning algorithms; Long short-term memory; Machine learning; Methods; Modelling; Neural networks; Overland flow; Real time; real-time flood forecasting; Rivers; Safety and security measures; Surface runoff; surrogate modelling; Two dimensional flow; Water depth
• ISSN: 2306-5338; 2306-5338
• DOI: 10.3390/hydrology11090152

Hydrodynamic models are often used to obtain insights into potential dike breaches, because dike breaches can have severe consequences. However, their high computational cost makes them unsuitable for real-time flood forecasting. Machine learning models are a promising alternative, as they offer reasonable accuracy at a significant reduction in computation time. In this study, we explore the effectiveness of a Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) neural network in fast flood modelling for a dike breach in the Netherlands, using training data from a 1D–2D hydrodynamic model. The LSTM uses the outflow hydrograph of the dike breach as input and produces water depths on all grid cells in the hinterland for all time steps as output. The results show that the LSTM accurately reflects the behaviour of overland flow: from fast rising and high water depths near the breach to slowly rising and lower water depths further away. The water depth prediction is very accurate (MAE = 0.045 m, RMSE = 0.13 m), and the inundation extent closely matches that of the hydrodynamic model throughout the flood event (Critical Success Index = 94%). We conclude that machine learning techniques are suitable for fast modelling of the complex dynamics of dike breach floods.