Research Collaboration between Lecturers of the Faculty of Engineering, Udayana University and QUT Regarding Methods for Predicting Floods in Coastal Areas in the Future

Lecturer in the Civil Engineering Study Program, Faculty of Engineering, Udayana University, I Putu Gustave Suryaantara Pariartha, ST, M.Eng., Ph.D. collaborating with a research Team consisting of Associate Professor Prasanna Egodawatta, Professor James McGree, Professor Ashantha Goonetilleke from QUT, Dr Shubham Aggarwal and Dr Srinivas Rallapalli from the Birla Institute of Technology and Science, India. QUT is a university in Brisbane, Australia which has a research focus on technology and innovation. The research team from QUT has conducted extensive high-impact research in areas such as climate change mitigation, digital media, materials science, and biomedical innovation.

 

I Putu Gustave Suryantara Pariartha, ST, M.Eng., Ph.D.

 

This research develops a modeling framework to predict the cost of damage from coastal flooding caused by the combined effects of rainfall, sea level rise, and urbanization. This study shows that given this combined effect, the annual average damage costs will be 78 percent higher in 2040 compared to 2017. The developed method can be used for all coastal areas regardless of geographical location.

 

Professor Ashantha Goonetilleke from the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering said that not much research has been conducted on the integrated and simultaneous effects of changes in rainfall, urbanization, and sea level rise in the future in coastal areas. As such, future flood risks and flood damage are expected to be significantly affected by increased urbanization and rainfall caused by climate change and sea level changes.

 

Using these three variables, we developed a comprehensive flood hazard and damage prediction model to assess flood scenarios in 2040, 2070 and 2100 in urban coastal areas, where 37 percent of the world's population lives. The results of this research have been published in the Journal of Hydrology in 2023.

 

I Putu Gustave Suryatara Pariartha hopes that this research collaboration can contribute to current and future flood mitigation, especially for reducing the risk of flooding in coastal areas and of course the sustainability of the collaboration between the two institutions is expected to be improved in the future.