RAINFALL INTENSITY CHARACTERIZATION IN SEMI-ARID REGIONS: DERIVATION OF IDF CURVES USING MULTI-MODEL APPROACHES FOR HILLA CITY, IRAQ Riyadh H. M. Muttaleb, Faiz H. Al-Merib, Ameer Hashim Hussein Kufa Journal of Engineering, 2026 This study aims to develop a formula to estimate rainfall intensity depending on Intensity Duration Frequency (IDF) curves. The rainfall IDF relationship is one of the tools used in water resources engineering to classify rainfall intensity for a given return period. Daily rainfall data for 20 years from (2003 to 2022) from the Iraqi Metrological Organization and Seismology was used to generate IDF curves for Hilla City. Three methods, namely, Gumbel, Log Normal, and Log Pearson III, were used to derive IDF curves using MATLAB software for six durations (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 hr) and six return periods (2, 5, 10, 25, 50, and 100 years). Then, empirical equations were developed to estimate rainfall intensity for the various rainfall durations and frequency periods. The results showed an excellent correlation coefficient (R2) for these empirical equations with an average (94.4 %) the maximum rainfall intensity was 48.6 mm/hr during a 1 hr return period and a 100-year return period. However, the 2.7 mm/hr was the minimum rainfall intensity that occurred during the 6-hour duration period and 2-year return period
Remote Sensing Approach for Monitoring and Assessing the Turbidity Variation: A Study in the Tigris River, Upstream Al-Kut Barrage Riyadh Muttaleb Iraqi Geological Journal, 2025 Controlling water turbidity is a significant problem facing water treatment plants. Therefore, using the remote sensing approach via satellite images is the aim of overcoming this problem. This research explores the turbidity variation upstream of Al-Kut Barrage on the Tigris River. The change in the surface reflectance of the water in this area was calculated using Green Band (band 3) and Red Band (band 4) of Landsat-8 level-1, which are the most sensitive bands that could be used to estimate the surface reflectance. Then, the reflectance was calibrated against 24 in situ turbidity measurements (R2=0.89) using MATLAB software, which was used to analyze the results. This fitting is then applied for the 2020 year to study the monthly turbidity variation using satellite images to explore the turbidity variation. The result showed their maximum monthly turbidity in April (34.18 NTU (Nephelometric Turbidity Unit)), with high flow was due to suspended flow particles that caused by exceeding the shear stress and the minimum in October (18.82 NTU) with low discharge, which has an average (28.61 NTU). Therefore, this study confirmed that satellite observations can be used to estimate the surface turbidity.
The Influence of Regional Groundwater Flow and a Neighbouring River on the Behaviour of an Aquifer Thermal Energy Storage System Qais H. M. Al-Madhlom, Sanaa A. Jassim, Riyadh H. M. Muttaleb Water Switzerland, 2024 One promising solution for mitigating CO2 emissions in arid regions is to use Aquifer Thermal Energy Storage (ATES) systems in cooling and heating systems. However, ATES systems need to be subjected to geohydrological investigations before their installation to ensure high performance. Two geohydrological properties are considered: regional groundwater flow and the influence of neighbouring rivers. This study considers a hypothetical ATES system within the city of Hilla, Iraq. MODFLOW 6.1 software was used to simulate the influence of the two properties. The simulation tested two locations situated at 75 m and 300 m from the river. Each location was explored using three flow rates: 10 m3/d, 50 m3/d, and 100 m3/d. The results indicate that the temperature change in the warm and cold wells increases proportionally with time of operation and rate of flow. For example, the temperature of the middle layer (for 10 m3/d operation) changes from 29 °C (after one year) to 34 °C (after twenty years operation), while it changes from 34 °C (one year) to 35 °C (twenty years) under 100 m3/d operation. Another result is that the available regional groundwater flow has a negligible influence on the storage system, while the neighbouring river has a high influence on the stored energy when the distance between them is 75 m or less. The paper recommends the installation of ATES systems at least 300 m from the bank of a river.
A Comprehensive Analysis of Groundwater Inundation Vulnerability and Remediation for Infrastructures Abdul Kareem K. Alsaffar, Riyadth Hamed, Zaid H. Majeed E3s Web of Conferences, 2023 The rising threat of groundwater inundation, characterized by the elevation of the water table above the ground surface, is increasingly impacting various infrastructure components. This issue has the potential to damage critical infrastructure elements such as building foundations, roads, bridges, and other essential aspects. The intensification of this problem can be linked to the growing frequency of severe weather events, alterations in land use, and increased groundwater withdrawals. This comprehensive review paper seeks to capture the current knowledge base concerning groundwater inundation vulnerability and potential remediation strategies for infrastructure. To achieve this, we performed a thorough literature review encompassing a variety of sources, including peer-reviewed journals, conference proceedings, and technical reports, among others. Our goal is to consolidate the existing understanding of groundwater inundation and its implications for infrastructures and assess the current methodologies for vulnerability evaluation and damage mitigation. Our findings from this review are intended to provide insight into the present state of this field and highlight the significant challenges and promising opportunities for future research.
Publications
Remote Sensing Approach for Monitoring and Assessing the Turbidity Variation: A Study in the Tigris River, Upstream Al-Kut Barrage
The Influence of Regional Groundwater Flow and a Neighbouring River on the Behaviour of an Aquifer Thermal Energy Storage System
A Comprehensive Analysis of Groundwater Inundation Vulnerability and Remediation for Infrastructures
RESEARCH OUTPUTS (PATENTS, SOFTWARE, PUBLICATIONS, PRODUCTS)
