Flood Hazard Analysis of Proposed Regulator on Shatt Al-Arab River

Ahmed Hamdan,Abdulhussain Abbas,Alauldeen Najm

doi:10.3390/hydrology6030080

Ahmed Hamdan, Abdulhussain Abbas + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/hydrology6030080

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Journal: Hydrology	Publication Date: Sep 3, 2019
Citations: 5	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: University of Basrah

Abstract

Recently, the Shatt Al-Arab River has suffered from increased salinization of its water due to the reduction of freshwater from its tributaries, mainly from the Tigris River, which has resulted in long-distance salinity intrusion. Therefore, there is a need to establish a regulator in the Abu-Flus district to prevent salt intrusion. The aim of the study is to investigate the effect of a proposed regulator on the Shatt Al-Arab River with simulations using the Hydrologic Engineering Center’s River Analysis System (HEC-RAS) model. The upstream boundary conditions were the daily discharges of Tigris River and the downstream boundary conditions were the hourly water stages of the Shatt Al-Arab River. The river model was operated by using the daily discharges recorded in 2014 for calibration and verification of the model. Then, a program operated with a suggested regulator and a flood wave assumed a 200 m3/s peak flow for a duration of 27 days. The flooding occurrence period of the flood wave was investigated under the effect of three study cases of regulator gates, which were fully open (case B1), tide gate (case B2), and fully closed (case B3). The results showed that flooding inundation occurred only in two cases (B2 and B3). These results will encourage the construction of the regulator considering certain precautions.

Highlights

The Shatt Al-Arab River is located in southern Iraq
The Shatt Al-Arab River has a length of about 200 km, the width varies in the range of 250 m to nearly 2 km, and the depth ranges from 8 to 17 m [3]
The Hydrologic Engineering Center’s River Analysis System (HEC-RAS) model can simulate the hydraulics of water flow through natural rivers [23]

Summary

Introduction

The Shatt Al-Arab River is located in southern Iraq. It is formed from the confluence of the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers at the Al-Qurna district, north of Basrah Province (31◦ 000 1700 N and 47◦ 260 2900 E). It flows to the south of Basrah Province towards the Arabian Gulf [1], (see Figure 1). The tides in the Arabian Gulf are mostly semidiurnal, and their impact is felt up to the city of Al-Qurna in the north of the Basrah governorate [4]

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