Digital twin makes the consequences of heavy rainfall visible for Dresden

Heavy rainfall events are increasingly presenting cities with major challenges. Flooded cellars, overloaded sewerage systems and flooding can cause considerable damage. The model project Smart City of the state capital Dresden, together with the Technical University Dresden, has published the first prototype of a digital twin that can be used to simulate heavy rainfall events and their effects on the urban area.

The digital 3D application depicts Dresden realistically and shows possible 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 bodies of water and air temperature can be called up. The calculated scenarios visualise correlations and provide important information for urban planning and heavy rainfall prevention.

The digital heavy rain twin is being developed at the Institute of Hydraulic Engineering and Technical Hydromechanics at the TU Dresden. Other partners from administration and science, including the University of Applied Sciences Dresden, the Office for Geodata and Cadastre of the state capital Dresden and the urban drainage Dresden, are contributing their expertise and data. In the future, the model will be expanded to include additional functions such as an early warning system and sensors to detect flooding, for example in railway subways.

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