AbstractA full computer based investigation of the factors influencing the modelling of overbank flood discharges has been carried out. Several floods of differing magnitudes and peak curvatures were routed down regular channels using an implicit finite difference scheme and the influence of time and distance steps used for the numerical solution of the flow equations were investigated.Spillage over sharp crested weirs was assumed to satisfactorily simulate the overbank flood discharge; the importance of a correct estimation of the coefficient of discharge was also checked. It was shown that sensibly chosen values of the time step had little effect on the simulations. This was also true for the value of the coefficient of discharge when the sideweir flow was predominately drowned, but not for free flow conditions. It was also shown that close spacing of computational nodes was required at the onset of overbank flow to accurately simulate the overflow and also model the occurrence of large water level gradients.