Reverse Flow Routing in a Bayesian Framework Using a GPU-accelerated 2D Shallow Water Model

Knowledge of discharge hydrographs in specific sites of natural rivers is important for water resource management, flood frequency analysis, design of structures, etc. Many times, the flood hydrograph is needed in a river section upstream of a monitoring station; here the flood wave differs from the upstream one because of the effects of resistance, channel storage, lateral inflow, etc. Reverse flow routing is a method that allows obtaining hydrographs in upstream ungauged stations using information available at downstream monitored sites. In this study, we propose an inverse procedure, based on a Bayesian Geostatistical Approach, to solve the reverse problem. The upstream flow values over time (parameters) are considered as random variables and a-priori information about the parameters and observations (downstream discharge or water level values) are combined together in a Bayesian framework. The methodology needs a forward model of the considered open channel that includes the upstream ungauged station and the downstream gauged one and it is able to describe, with sufficient accuracy, the hydraulic routing processes. In many real cases, especially when large floodable areas are involved, a 1D hydraulic model is not able to capture the complex river hydrodynamic and a 2D model must be used. The inverse procedure requires a high number of flow model run to linearize the forward problem through multiple evaluations of a Jacobian matrix (sensitivity of each observation to each parameter) using a finite difference approach. For this reason, the computational efficiency of the forward model is a crucial element to reduce the overall computational costs. Therefore, in this work we used, in combination with the inverse procedure, a GPU-parallel numerical model for the solution of the 2D Shallow Water equations (implemented in CUDA/C++ code) that allows achieving ratio of physical to computational time of about 500-1000 (depending on the test case features). In addition, since the model runs needed to evaluate the sensitivity matrix are independent each other, they are performed in parallel using a GPU cluster. The practical applicability of the approach is demonstrated for an Italian river where the 2D effects of the flow are not negligible.