Examining The Influence Of Flow Diverter Constructed To Mitigate Flood In Little Calumet River Using Unsteady Flow Simulation With Hec Ras Modeling

Little Calumet River System in Northwest Indiana experienced devastating flood during 2008 storm Ike. For this river system which encounters frequent flooding, US Army Corps constructed levees for managing floods. A flow diverter was also constructed after the storm to divert the water to flow east instead of the usual west ward after a major tributary called Hart Ditch confluence point. In this study, an unsteady flow simulation model using HEC RAS was developed by conducting field cross sectional survey. The HEC RAS model also includes Hart Ditch tributary. The rainfall runoff process was modeled using a HEC HMS model. Simulations were conducted with and without the flow diverter and the results were compared to study the influence of the new structure.