Review and analysis of vehicle stability models during floods and proposal for future improvements

Flood water can affect vehicles significantly, which in turn can increase the negative effects of floods as vehicles are washed away by the flow and become a form of debris. In cities, most fatalities during floods occur inside vehicles. Consequently, it is necessary to establish thresholds for vehicle stability during this type of event to provide information necessary for flood risk management. This article analyses the available stability models developed over recent years to determine such thresholds. The stability models were grouped according to the way in which they approached car watertightness and the stability thresholds proposed by each of them were compared. It was found that these thresholds vary over a relatively wide range. Additionally, the experimental data were compared with the results provided by these studies leading to the conclusion that several of the stability models analysed do not fit measured data well. New research is required to overcome the simplifications made by the state-of-the-art models and to try to standardise the decision criteria which should be adopted to define stability thresholds for vehicles of different characteristics.