The Llobregat river in the final reach is the most important river of Catalonia, and around half a million people are concentrated in the riverside cities in the last 25 Km. Historical floods have been produced serious losses in terms of human life as well as public and private properties. In 1971 a peak flow of 3000 m3/s from a hydrograph with a rising time of less than 12 hours in a river with a base flow of 6 to 10 m3/s, produced a serious flood in the delta area with 8 people death. Defence works were proposed after this flood, but in 1982 again the Llobregat stroke back with more than 200 km2 affected, but fortunately with no human losses. In the last years several significant infrastructures (highways, high speed train, local roads, and pipelines) have been located in the floodplain, modifying the hydraulic behaviour of the river. So the Water Administration has focussed the interest in this reach in last years.

Image that show of the area of interest (red colour)

The reach begins at the Sant Andreu de la Barca village, where the Riera de Rubi incorporation creates some local problems in this area. The following river is limited in the right and left bank by two highways until the Sant Feliu de Llobregat village, where the right band highway disappears and a large floodplain is located there, prone to be flooded by the Llobregat. Agricultural activities are still found in this floodplain. This floodplain arrives to the Sant Boi meander, and here begins a flood protection dyke down to the mouth. The river is limited by the two lateral dykes but floodplains extend north and south. In the north area (west bank) we found two important cities: Cornellá and l'Hospitalet de Llobregat, with the urban area very close to the dykes. On the other side (right bank) we find the farming area of Sant Boi de Llobregat, one of the most important of the Llobregat delta.

The AOI covers a variety of land uses: urban areas, farming areas with several crops, floodplains with different density of vegetation, and from a hydraulic point of view, one dimensional and two dimensional flow conditions to be included in the numerical simulator.

The area of interest could be characterized as semi-urban, and is located at the border of Halandri and Brilissia municipalities, at the northern part of the city of Athens. The area has major socio-economic interest, as it is close to the Olympic Centre of Athens and there are several buildings of social importance within the area (stadiums, hospitals, schools etc.). Halandri River which is coming down from Penteli Mountain crosses the area from north-east to south-west. At the east river side the city is constructed in building blocks, while at the west side there are sparse buildings and vegetation. The main road that crosses the area is the Penteli Avenue, which is directed parallel to the river. Also, at the southern-west of the area there is the recently constructed "Attiki Odos" motorway.

Attica region

Validation will be considered successful if, once the Ramflood DSS system is operative; the three basics phases can be achieved in an efficient, fast way, and with no need of further developments.

These basics phases are,

Phase 1
Tasks for the first phase are the next four,

Area of Interest Definition of the Area Of Interest (AOI)


Satellite Image Selection and correction of the satellite images for the AOI region

Image classification / Land cover maps Classification of satellite images in land use classes maps.

Pre-process Standard topographic data importation and creation of a computation mesh. Assignation of land uses classes to mesh and translation of these classes into roughness coefficients. Hydraulic simulation code requirements application (boundary conditions)
Phase 2
Tasks for the second phase are the next three,

Numerical Simulation / Generation of the training data Fulfilment of required hydraulics computations for ANN training

Order training data - Database Ordering of training data in the proper database

Creation of the ANNs ANN training using the previous database.

Phase 3
Task for the third phase is the next one,

RAMFLOOD DSS ANN integration in the end-user graphical interface.