A 2D MODELLING APPROACH FOR FLOODPLAIN LAKE GEOMETRY

Oxbow Lakes have been an important floodplain structure to humanity for millennia. They preserve climate history, are an important ecological habitat, and supply fertile agricultural soil. The current literature on these lakes has been mostly on their preservation of climate history and few studies have a practical example of the hydrology of multiple lakes. This study uses a 2D unsteady flow HEC-RAS model to simulate the flow in September 2018, during Hurricane Florence, to identify the impact of geometry on the flow in numerous oxbow lakes and create a quantitative measurement for floodplain lake connectivity. Preliminary results show that channel inundation is critical in a flooding event, causing backflow into floodplain lakes. This backflow can significantly affect the sedimentation patterns of these floodplain lakes.