Modeling of hydrological processes of an urban catchment

Integrated water management in cities has become the order of the day. As one of the key elements, stormwater management is developed towards at-source control with low impact development (LID) practices. Correspondingly, urban hydrological modeling moves towards integrated approaches capable of considering the entire water cycle. This Ph.D work contributes to the development of an urban hydrological model, the Urban Runoff Branching Structure, with focuses on the implementation of a saturated flow module. The integrated model was validated on an experimental urban catchment in Nantes, France, then applied to the territory of the Paris-Saclay campus through scenario study at different spatial scales. The modeling results shed light on the importance of evapotranspiration and underground drainage network in water balance, which are impacted by urban project. The resultant seasonal variations of groundwater recharge are highlighted. LID devices are modeled and their capacity of reducing peak discharge and low flows shown. It is recommended to consider underground conditions in the implementation of infiltration-based LID devices especially when shallow groundwater is present.