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Article

Fusing Historical Records and Physics-Informed Priors for Urban Waterlogging Susceptibility Assessment: A Framework Integrating Machine Learning, Fuzzy Evaluation, and Decision Analysis

1
School of Civil Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing 211189, China
2
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore 119077, Singapore
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Appl. Sci. 2025, 15(19), 10604; https://doi.org/10.3390/app151910604
Submission received: 3 September 2025 / Revised: 28 September 2025 / Accepted: 29 September 2025 / Published: 30 September 2025
(This article belongs to the Topic Resilient Civil Infrastructure, 2nd Edition)

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What are the main findings? •This study proposes a dual-source sample enhancement strategy that integrates Physics-Informed Priors (PI-PRIORS) with HWR, incorporating extreme rainfall sce-narios and applying a joint filtering mechanism based on membership, credibility, and impact degrees. This approach systematically extracts high-quality samples and embeds extreme-scenario information into the modeling process. •To address the heterogeneity of polygon-based waterlogging risk distributions, a di-mension-reduction sampling framework is introduced based on TWD theory. It inte-grates an MCCM and the CRITIC-TOPSIS method, which integrates the CRITIC (Cri-teria Importance Through Intercriteria Correlation) method and the TOPSIS (Tech-nique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution) method, to quantify mem-bership degrees of overlapping risk levels, while also assessing credibility and social influence scores to support robust point-based sampling in spatially complex envi-ronments. •A MaxEnt (Maximum Entropy) modeling framework—a statistical learning approach rooted in information entropy theory—is developed by integrating variables from natural conditions, social capital, infrastructure, and the built environment. The con-tributions and directional effects of each factor are quantified, achieving a balance between interpretability and scalability. This framework offers a transferable tool for diverse urban settings and targeted flood mitigation planning.

Abstract

Urban Waterlogging Susceptibility Assessment (UWSA) is vital for resilient urban planning and disaster preparedness. Conventional methods depend heavily on Historical Waterlogging Records (HWR), which are limited by their reliance on extreme rainfall events and prone to human omissions, resulting in spatial bias and incomplete coverage. While hydrodynamic models can simulate waterlogging scenarios, their large-scale application is restricted by the lack of accessible underground drainage data. Recently released flood control plans and risk maps provide valuable physics-informed priors (PI-Priors) that can supplement HWR for susceptibility modeling. This study introduces a dual-source integration framework that fuses HWR with PI-Priors to improve UWSA performance. PI-Priors rasters were vectorized to delineate two-dimensional waterlogging zones, and based on the Three-Way Decision (TWD) theory, a Multi-dimensional Connection Cloud Model (MCCM) with CRITIC-TOPSIS was employed to build an index system incorporating membership degree, credibility, and impact scores. High-quality samples were extracted and combined with HWR to create an enhanced dataset. A Maximum Entropy (MaxEnt) model was then applied with 20 variables spanning natural conditions, social capital, infrastructure, and built environment. The results demonstrate that this framework increases sample adequacy, reduces spatial bias, and substantially improves the accuracy and generalizability of UWSA under extreme rainfall.
Keywords: urban waterlogging; susceptibility assessment; physics-informed priors; connection cloud model; MaxEnt model; three-way decisions urban waterlogging; susceptibility assessment; physics-informed priors; connection cloud model; MaxEnt model; three-way decisions

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MDPI and ACS Style

Chen, G.; Guan, W.; Xu, J.; Koh, C.G.; Xu, Z. Fusing Historical Records and Physics-Informed Priors for Urban Waterlogging Susceptibility Assessment: A Framework Integrating Machine Learning, Fuzzy Evaluation, and Decision Analysis. Appl. Sci. 2025, 15, 10604. https://doi.org/10.3390/app151910604

AMA Style

Chen G, Guan W, Xu J, Koh CG, Xu Z. Fusing Historical Records and Physics-Informed Priors for Urban Waterlogging Susceptibility Assessment: A Framework Integrating Machine Learning, Fuzzy Evaluation, and Decision Analysis. Applied Sciences. 2025; 15(19):10604. https://doi.org/10.3390/app151910604

Chicago/Turabian Style

Chen, Guangyao, Wenxin Guan, Jiaming Xu, Chan Ghee Koh, and Zhao Xu. 2025. "Fusing Historical Records and Physics-Informed Priors for Urban Waterlogging Susceptibility Assessment: A Framework Integrating Machine Learning, Fuzzy Evaluation, and Decision Analysis" Applied Sciences 15, no. 19: 10604. https://doi.org/10.3390/app151910604

APA Style

Chen, G., Guan, W., Xu, J., Koh, C. G., & Xu, Z. (2025). Fusing Historical Records and Physics-Informed Priors for Urban Waterlogging Susceptibility Assessment: A Framework Integrating Machine Learning, Fuzzy Evaluation, and Decision Analysis. Applied Sciences, 15(19), 10604. https://doi.org/10.3390/app151910604

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