Mitigating Urban Inundation through Capillary Rise and Surface Tension

Abstract

In urban areas, flood damage often arises from urban inundation, particularly when stormwater accumulates in the lowlands during heavy rainfall. However, installing or upgrading rainfall-runoff reduction facilities in advanced land-use areas poses significant spatiotemporal and economic challenges. Therefore, an alternative approach is needed to manage runoff during periods of excessive rainfall without having to modify the existing facilities. In view of this, the rainfall-runoff reduction mechanism using the surface tension of water and capillary rise of porous materials was examined through experiments. Furthermore, the effect of flood prevention was evaluated within a study basin using the InfoWorks ICM model. The findings indicate that urban inundation can be reduced through the storage effect induced by capillary rise.