Routing of dam break floods

The most influential factors in determining the form and severity of a flood following a dam failure are the dam's height and the volume of water stored. These are two of a number of conclusions drawn following the development of a mathematical model to study the process of flood flows resulting from a dam breach. The main objective of the computer model FLORIS (Flow in River Systems) is the routing of waves in a complex river geometry taking into account channel networks. The latter is of special interest for extreme floods where the flow might leave the original valley to form new floodways. The entire river reach, for which discharge calculations are to be performed, is divided into sub-reaches, of which the distances may be of varying length.