OpenFlows FLOOD Simulation Paves Way for Smarter ‘Sponge City’ Flood Mitigation

• 29 September 2025
• Construction Focus
• 1194 Views

A new report is advocating for the widespread adoption of “sponge cities” as a vital, if not singular, solution to the growing threat of surface water flooding.

According to the study co-authored by the Infrastructure Policy Advancement think tank, part of Bentley Systems, and Aqua Consultants, creating sponge cities could reduce the risk of surface water flooding for 4.6 million UK properties, and the same concept can apply to other flood-prone areas around the world.

Mark Coates, vice president of Infrastructure Policy Advancement at Bentley Systems, said a sponge city is defined as an urban area designed with the ability to “absorb, hold and place water in a safe location that then, in time, can drain away.”

Sponge city concepts essentially mean creating dual-purpose infrastructure, often by using green spaces for both environmental and mental well-being benefits, as well as for water absorption.

He added that solutions to flooding require government involvement, including stricter regulations on construction and drainage management, encouragement of advanced planning of large-scale SuDS, and, more importantly, larger budget allocation to flood management.

Besides great planning and regulations, digital tools will also be the key to help countries across the world effectively manage flooding.

Bentley’s tools, such as CAD Modeling and Visualization, Digital Twins, and Hydraulics tools such as OpenFlows FLOOD, OpenFlows Water, OpenFlows Sewer, and OpenFlows Storm, can come in handy.

For example, OpenFlows FLOOD is a powerful software tool designed to analyze and mitigate flood risks across urban, riverine, and coastal environments. It works by employing fully spatially-distributed numerical models to provide a comprehensive simulation of all relevant hydrological and hydraulic processes.

The software simulates all critical processes that lead to flooding, providing a holistic view of water movement within a river basin. This includes rainfall, infiltration, surface runoff, channel flow (river flow), and groundwater flow.

OpenFlows FLOOD is highly versatile, enabling flood risk assessment and mitigation planning in three primary areas: Urban Areas, Riverine Areas, and Coastal Areas.

The software allows users to leverage real-world digital context, such as a 3D reality mesh from ContextCapture. This feature brings simulations to life by generating realistic visualizations of flood events, which is highly beneficial for public communication, stakeholder engagement, and supporting effective emergency planning.

Another key feature for solving flood issues is the scenario management capability. This allows engineers and planners to easily create, compare, and analyze the outcomes of different mitigation alternatives (e.g., building a new flood wall, installing new Suds, or rerouting a channel). This function helps users quickly find the best and most effective solution for flood risk mitigation.

• AI
• OpenFlows
• Bentley Systems
• ContextCapture