Digital twin reveals the impact of heavy rainfall on Dresden

Heavy rainfall events are posing increasingly significant challenges for towns and cities. Flooded basements, overloaded sewer systems and flooding can cause considerable damage. The pilot project ‘ Smart ’ ( City ), run by the state capital Dresden in collaboration with the Technical University of Dresden, has released the first prototype of a digital twin that can be used to simulate heavy rainfall events and their impact on the urban area.

The digital 3D application provides a realistic representation of Dresden and illustrates potential flooding and damage to residential buildings in the event of heavy rainfall of around 30 to 50 litres per square metre per hour. In addition, measurement data on precipitation, water levels in watercourses and air temperature can be accessed. The calculated scenarios highlight interrelationships and provide important insights for urban planning and heavy rainfall preparedness.

The digital heavy rainfall twin is being developed at the Institute of Hydraulic Engineering and Technical Hydromechanics at the Technical University of Dresden. Other partners from the public sector and academia, including the University of Applied Sciences Dresden, the Office for Geodata and Cadastral Survey of the State Capital Dresden and the City Drainage Authority Dresden, are contributing their expertise and data. In the future, the model is set to be expanded to include additional functions such as an early warning system and sensor technology for detecting flooding, for example in railway underpasses.

The application is now publicly available at digitaler-zwilling.dresden.de. Users are invited to test the prototype and share their feedback via an online survey at digitaler-zwilling.dresden.de/umfrage.