RIM2D

Rapid Inundation Model 2D RIM2D – Highly Efficient 2D Hydraulic Simulation of Fluvial, Pluvial, Coastal and Combined Flooding

The core of the RIM2D software consists of a 2D flood model that calculates surface inundation dynamics in a raster-based approach using simplified shallow water equations. In urban areas, simulations can be carried out at high spatial resolutions of ≤ 5 metres, accounting for buildings and roads. Urban drainage via the sewer network and infiltration are incorporated through a capacitive approach applied to sealed and unsealed surfaces, respectively.

RIM2D produces spatially explicit flood maps as output, along with the loading on the wastewater system at high temporal resolution, aggregated across the entire municipality. From the simulations, inundation depths and flow velocities can be extracted, from which further flood impact indicators can be derived — such as risk to human life, vehicle displacement, and expected structural damage to buildings.

Core Features:

• Flood simulation for fluvial, pluvial, coastal and combined flooding, at both large and small scales and in urban environments → a complete solution for municipalities and cities
• Ability to use freely available geodata directly in raster format for simulations → straightforward model setup and transferability, including worldwide application
• Short computation times through massive parallelisation on Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) → enables use in operational forecasting (e.g. precipitation forecast → hydrological model → RIM2D or precipitation forecast → RIM2D), as well as probabilistic risk analyses with a high number of model runs
• The straight foreward model structure enables extensive automation of model setup for fast and resource-efficient creation of application models and transferability to other areas/municipalities

Thanks to these features, RIM2D holds decisive advantages — particularly over the coupled 1D-2D models currently used as standard for simulating urban flooding. With those models, neither operational forecasting nor probabilistic analysis is feasible due to long model runtimes. Furthermore, even larger municipalities can be simulated in their entirety — rather than just partial areas — which is likewise generally not possible with the coupled approaches of existing models, owing to their high data and computational demands.

User groups

In addition to the scientific community, user groups for the software include engineering firms, local authorities, government agencies, and insurance companies.

Dual licensing:

The software and an associated QGIS plugin are available free of charge for scientific purposes under an EUPLv1.2 license. Access to the repository is available upon request.

For commercial purposes, there is a proprietary version of the software and various product lines (RIM2D Cloud, RIM2D Engine, RIMahead). Further information is available on our website: www.rim2d.eu