LITERATURE REVIEW

Research on koggala lagoon flood model

By Thilina Pradeep

SEPTEMBER 12, 2015

Table of Contents
Table of Contents .............................................................................................................................. 1
1.

Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 1

2.

Hydrological behavior of a lagoon ............................................................................................. 1

2.1

Surface gradient ................................................................................................................. 1

2.2

Density gradient ................................................................................................................. 1

2.3

Fresh water and sea-water mixing and stratification ............................................................ 2

3.

Koggala lagoon.......................................................................................................................... 2

4.

Flood inundation modelling ....................................................................................................... 3

4.1

Using HEC-RAS 2D to develop the flood model ................................................................ 4

4.2

2D Computational Mesh..................................................................................................... 4

References:........................................................................................................................................ 4

1. Introduction
Coastal lagoons are inland shallow water bodies with water depths not exceeding few meters usually
located parallel to the coast which are separated from the ocean by a barrier and having one or few
restricted inlets (Gunaratne et al. 2010).These eco systems are formed due to various geological process
and even though they are protected from direct effect from waves they are subjected to variation of fresh
water inflow and rising and falling tides making a fresh/saline aquatic system (Hettiarachchi, 1997).
These regions and surrounding low-lying fertile lands has a great economic value mainly due to its
potential of agricultural and fisheries.

2. Hydrological behavior of a lagoon

While fresh water coming through the lagoon discharges to the sea tidal inflow tend to intrude into the
lagoon through its narrow openings. In this situation depending on the environmental conditions and the
freshwater inflow and tidal characteristics, saline water will mix with the fresh water in the lagoon in
variable amounts. High sea-water intrusion will make high salinity levels in water in surrounding lowlying areas which could result in adverse effects for domestic, agricultural and industrial use of water.
Hettiarachchi (1997) vastly describes the major factors influencing the Salt-water intrusion and drainage
in his journal .Surface and density gradients are the most important factors in this regard.

2.1

Surface gradient
Influence gravity waves to propagate into the estuary
Its rate depends on depth of water and tidal range at the mouth

2.2 Density gradient

At a particular temperature salinity causes a small increase of density which create a density gradient.
Due to the density gradient,
Fresh water moves on the surface towards sea.
Saline water moves landward close to the bed.
Combined effect of surface gradient and density gradient cause,
Net seaward movement near the surface.
Net landward movement near estuary bed.
This landward movement tend to carry fine sediment landward in suspension to a point near the landward
limit of density gradient. This point onwards water is totally fresh. This point of zero net movement tend
to move seaward when the freshwater inflow is high and when it is low it will move further landward
direction.
1

Most significant dynamic factors which influence the hydraulics of an estuary or lagoon are,
Effect of the tide throughout the length of salinity intrusion.
Effect of the gravitational forces caused by density gradient.
Gravitational forces needed to produce a net seaward freshwater flow.

2.3 Fresh water and sea-water mixing and stratification

At low flow rates only a small amount of mixing will occur along a narrow interface between
fresh water and sea-water.
When the mixing occurs underneath sea-water layer losses some amount of salt. To maintain the
equilibrium an equal amount of salt would have to replace by a landward movement of saline
water.
Mixing of fresh water and sea water will increase with large tidal motion.
Estuaries, lagoons and tidal bays all have similar and different characteristics both but at the same time
each coastal tidal inlet has its own unique characteristics (Clark, 2004). Therefore to identify the actual
behavior of an estuarine system its characteristics should be studied individually.

3. Koggala lagoon
Koggala lagoon is located south-west region of the island. (Gunaratne et al., 2010)) have stated that
water spread area of the lagoon is about 7.27 km2 and water depths ranges from 1.0 m to 3.7 m. Koggala
lagoon is mainly coastal lake which gets most of the inflow from rainfall. There are few streams
connected to the lagoon are also there such as Warabokka-ela stream, Mudiyansege-ela stream and
Thithagalla-ela stream. There is only one outlet for the lagoon which is located at Pol-oya. Catchment
area of the lagoon is around 55 km2 and of it about 15% is the lagoon area and another 15% is paddy
fields and low-lying areas (Gunaratne et al., 2010).

Source: Gunaratne et al.(2010)

2

4. Flood inundation modelling

Mainly there are three types of numerical and mathematical modelling of flood modelling approaches.
Those are One Dimensional, Two Dimensional and Three Dimensional methods (Nelz & Pender,
2009).
Nelz & Pender describes basis of each type and their applicability as follows.
One dimensional (1D) modelling is based on one dimensional Saint-Vernant equations. Due to
assumptions made when deriving equations this method only can be used where flow direction is parallel
to the center line of the river channel. During past years its usage has extended to modelling of compound
channel i.e. river channels with flood plains.
Two Dimensional (2D) modelling is based on 2D shallow water equations such as 2D Saint-Vernant
equations and Diffusion Wave equations. In these approaches solutions to St-Vernant equations are
obtained from finite difference method, finite element method or finite volume method.
In three dimensional (3D) models 3D Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations can be used to
determine the water levels and velocity fields in rivers and flood plains.
Following is a comparisons of available flood modeling methods and their relevant applications.

Source: Nelz & Pender(2009)

4.1 Using HEC-RAS 2D to develop the flood model

According to HEC RAS user guide (Brunner, 2014) ,HEC has newly added two dimensional
hydrodynamic abilities to HEC-RAS 5.0 version. Yet it is in the beta stage possibly it can be used to
model

the

required

2D

unsteady

flood

model.

In

the

manual

they

say

Two

dimensional (2D) flow modeling is accomplished by adding 2D Flow Area elements into the model in
the same manner as adding a storage area. A 2D Flow Area is added by drawing a 2D Flow Area poly
gon; developing the 2D computational mesh; then linking the 2D Flow Areas to 1D model elements an
d/or directly connecting boundary conditions to the 2D areas. To unsteady analysis Full Saint-Vernant
equation or Diffusion Wave Equations will be used.

4.2 2D Computational Mesh

It is essentially required a 2D computational mesh to develop the flood model. Using existing
coordinated elevation data we have to create a grid based digital elevation model. In this regard GIS is
a very useful tool in modelling the earth surface and defining basin parameters to be used in topography
based hydrological modeling. Grid size and map scale is the main influencing factors for the accuracy.
It should be determined considering required level of accuracy and computational time(Usul &
Pasaogullari, 2004)

References:
1. Brunner, G. W. (2014, October). Combined 1D and 2D Modeling with HECRAS.

2. Clark, R. R. (2004). Sebastian Inlet Tidal Hydraulic Characteristics.

3. Gunaratne, G. L., Tanaka, N., Amarasekara, P., Priyadarshana, T., & Manatunga, J. (2010).
Restoration of Koggala lagoon: Modelling approach in evaluating lagoon water budget and
ow characteristics. Journal of Environmental Sciences, 22(6), 813819.
4. Hettiarachchi, S. S. L. (1997). Drainage and exclusion of salt-water in low-lying coastal areas a case study from the Southern Province of Sri Lanka. Ocean & Coastal Management,
34(1), 2953.
5. Nelz, S., & Pender, G. (2009). Desktop review of 2D hydraulic modelling packages. Environment
Agency,UK.
6. USUL, N., & PASAOGULLARI, O. (2004). Effect of map scale and grid size for hydrological
modelling. In GIS and Remote Sensing in Hydrology, Water Resources and Environment.