Engineering Applications of Computational Fluid Mechanics

Resilience of Urban Drainage Systems to Climate Change: the Application of CFD Models for Innovative Design Criteria

Climate change is severely stressing the existing hydraulic structures serving urban drainage systems. The “hydraulic” failure of sewer manholes, such as inlets, bends, drops, junctions or inline structures, is occurring more and more frequently because their capacity is exceeded by the flow discharges carried out during intense rainfall events. Beside physical models, the employment of CFD models may provide important guidelines for a novel hydraulic design of either new structures or to enhance the performance of existing structures. By this approach, hydraulic engineers benefit from an ample series of flow field data, as flow depths, water velocities and flow pressures, which are indispensable to guide towards an effective hydraulic and structural project. Capabilities, but also limits, of CFD modelling to simulate flow phenomena inside sewer hydraulic structures need to be deeply examined.

In the present days, the most common approach to finalize the development of innovative hydraulic structure configurations as well as the inspection of geometrical variations of existing structures consists in the CFD modelling. This tool is, indeed, often preferred to the classic physical modelling thanks to its sustainable cost and time requirements. The large potentiality of CFD models should be, however, managed with caution because, if erroneously used, it risks to conduct the designer to results which are quite far from  the real physics of the modelled phenomenon. The current bibliography about the numerical modelling of sewer structures needs undoubtedly to be enriched, giving the possibility to CFD model users to employ valid indications about, for example, the grid size, the boundary and initial conditions, the turbulence model and the required simulation time. All these modelling features, on one side, are strictly connected to the specific hydraulic structure to be analyzed and, on the other side, influence the outcomes of the CFD investigation massively.

This Calls for Papers concerns the CFD-based studies of the flow features of hydraulic structures installed across urban drainage systems. The potential subtopics range from the description of the effects of various design parameters on the structural/hydraulic performance to the launch of innovative structures or the presentation of modified configurations of standard sewer appurtenances, based on the exploitation of CFD models. Further attention is also given to the papers reporting the relationship between physical and CFD modelling or describing successful techniques for controlling the accuracy and the stability of the modelling process. Original Research and Review Articles describing real case-studies are warmly welcomed.

Keywords: Computational Fluid Dynamics; Hydraulic design; Urban drainage systems; Design optimization; CFD model calibration

Manuscript Submissions:

Manuscript submission is open until 29th March 2026.

Please carefully review the journal scope and author submission instructions prior to submitting an abstract as it will be rejected if it does not fall within the scope of the journal.

All manuscripts submitted to this Article Collection will undergo desk assessment and peer-review as part of our standard editorial process. Manuscripts which do not fall within the scope of the journal will be rejected.

To submit your papers to this Article Collection, please:

1. Check "yes" for the question, "Are you submitting your paper for a specific special issue or article collection?"
2. Select the relevant Article Collection from the drop-down menu under the question, "Resilience of Urban Drainage Systems to Climate Change: the Application of CFD Models for Innovative Design Criteria"

Remember to include the 10% Discount code: TCFM-2026-C36747 at the point of submission before you submit your manuscript as discount codes cannot be applied retroactively.

We do have a limited amount of 20% Discount codes only available for those who are able to submit an Abstract. It should be noted that discount codes cannot be combined and that only the higher discount would be applicable.

Please contact Christopher Montgomery, Commissioning Editor, with any other queries and discount codes regarding this Article Collection.

Article Collection Guest Advisors

Dr. Gaetano Crispino is a Research Associate at the Department of Engineering of Università della Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli” (Italy). His main research activity concerns the experimental modelling of hydraulic structures installed across urban drainage systems. During his past PhD program, He attended the LCH-EPFL, where he worked on the physical modelling of sewer manholes.

Prof. Corrado Gisonni is author of over 150 papers, also published in review journals, and co-author of the “Italian Handbook for Sewer System Design" and author of  "Wastewater Hydraulics - from theory to practice". Current research topics are: sewer hydraulics, supercritical open channel flows, water distribution network, fluvial hydraulics and river engineering. In addition transients in water supply systems has received particular research attention. Since 2012, he is Full Professor (Chair of Hydraulic Engineering and Hydraulic Structures) at the Department of Engineering of the Università della Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”.