Automated Control Flaw Generation Procedure: Cheakamus Dam Case Study

This thesis deals with the problem of aging hydropower infrastructure systems and system components, a problem that is very common across Canada. Flaws of common risk analysis methods are noted, and the need for new risk analysis approaches is identified. System dynamics simulation method is introduced as an implementation mechanism for the System Theoretic Process Analysis (STPA). STPA and its adaptation to complex hydropower systems are explained thoroughly. Fuzzy logic is used to model operator’s decision making. The main objectives of the research include the development of an automated generic approach that implements STPA and fuzzy logic for the investigation and identification of potentially hazardous actions and hazardous system states. The developed methodology is illustrated using a case study based on the BC Hydro’s Cheakamus Dam, British Columbia, Canada

Android Application for Microcontroller-based Reservoir Water Level Monitoring

A reservoir water level monitoring system was designed, constructed using a microcontroller and evaluated through functionality, reliability and accuracy. The monitoring system components consisted of a Gizduino microcontroller, Ethernet shield, serial camera and float switches which enabled the system to provide real time status and pictures of the reservoir. The monitoring system can be accessed using an Android application that can be installed in a compatible Android smartphone. An internet connection with a dedicated public IP was needed to broadcast the status and pictures of the reservoir. The specific monitoring system is fixed to a specific dam as it has a set of different float switches and camera. A back-up battery supply was integrated to the monitoring system to provide continuous power to the system. Fifty students evaluated the user acceptance of the water level monitoring system. According to the participants, the system was user-friendly, functional, reliable and accurate

Applications of Mathematical Models in Engineering

The most influential research topic in the twenty-first century seems to be mathematics, as it generates innovation in a wide range of research fields. It supports all engineering fields, but also areas such as medicine, healthcare, business, etc. Therefore, the intention of this Special Issue is to deal with mathematical works related to engineering and multidisciplinary problems. Modern developments in theoretical and applied science have widely depended our knowledge of the derivatives and integrals of the fractional order appearing in engineering practices. Therefore, one goal of this Special Issue is to focus on recent achievements and future challenges in the theory and applications of fractional calculus in engineering sciences. The special issue included some original research articles that address significant issues and contribute towards the development of new concepts, methodologies, applications, trends and knowledge in mathematics. Potential topics include, but are not limited to, the following: Fractional mathematical models; Computational methods for the fractional PDEs in engineering; New mathematical approaches, innovations and challenges in biotechnologies and biomedicine; Applied mathematics; Engineering research based on advanced mathematical tools

Flood Management in a Complex River Basin with a Real-Time Decision Support System Based on Hydrological Forecasts

During the last decades, the Upper Rhone River basin has been hit by several flood events causing significant damages in excess of 500 million Swiss Francs. From this situation, the 3rd Rhône river training project was planned in order to improve the flood protection in the Upper Rhone River basin in Vaud and Valais Cantons. In this framework, the MINERVE forecast system aims to contribute to a better flow control during flood events in this catchment area, taking advantage of the existing hydropower multi-reservoir network. This system also fits into the OWARNA national project of the Swiss Federal Office of Environment by establishing a national platform on natural hazards alarms. The Upper Rhone River basin has a catchment area with high mountains and large glaciers. The surface of the basin is 5521 km2 and its elevation varies between 400 and 4634 m a.s.l. Numerous hydropower schemes with large dams and reservoirs are located in the catchment area, influencing the hydrological regime. Their impact during floods can be significant as appropriate preventive operations can decrease the peak discharges in the Rhone River and its main tributaries, thus reducing the damages. The MINERVE forecast system exploits flow measurements, data from reservoirs and hydropower plants as well as probabilistic (COSMO-LEPS) and deterministic (COSMO-2 and COSMO-7) numerical weather predictions from MeteoSwiss. The MINERVE hydrological model of the catchment area follows a semi-distributed approach. The basin is split into 239 sub-catchments which are further sub-divided into 500 m elevation bands, for a total of 1050 bands. For each elevation band, precipitation, temperature and potential evapotranspiration are calculated. They are considered in order to describe the temperature-driven processes accurately, such as snow and glaciers melt. The hydrological model was implemented in the Routing System software. The object oriented programming environment allows a user-friendly modelling of the hydrological, hydraulic and operating processes. Numerical meteorological data (observed or predicted) are introduced as input in the model. Over the calibration and validation periods of the model, only observed data (precipitation, temperature and flows) was used. For operational flood forecast, the observed measurements are used to update the initial conditions of the hydrological model and the weather forecasts for the hydrological simulations. Routing System provides then hydrological predictions in the whole catchment area. Subsequently, a warning system was developed especially for the basin to provide a flood warning report. The warning system predicts the evolution of the hydrological situation at selected main check points in the catchment area. It displays three warning levels during a flood event depending on respective critical discharge thresholds. Furthermore, the multi-reservoir system is managed in an optimal way in order to limit or avoid damages during floods. A decision support tool called MINDS (MINERVE Interactive Decision Support System) has been developed for real-time decision making based on the hydrological forecasts. This tool defines preventive operation measures for the hydropower plants such as turbine and bottom outlet releases able to provide an optimal water storage during the flood peak. The overall goal of MINDS is then to retain the inflowing floods in reservoirs and to avoid spillway and turbine operations during the peak flow, taking into account all restrictions and current conditions of the network. Such a reservoir management system can therefore significantly decrease flood damages in the catchment area. The reservoir management optimisation during floods is achieved with deterministic and probabilistic forecasts. The definition of the objective function to optimise is realised with a multi-attribute decision making approach. Then, the optimisation is performed with an iterative Greedy algorithm or a SCE-UA (Shuffled Complex Evolution – University of Arizona) algorithm. The developed decision support system combines the high-quality optimisation system with its user-friendly interface. The purpose is to help decision makers by being directly involve in main steps of the decision making process as well as by understanding the measures undertaken and their consequences

USCID fourth international conference

Presented at the Role of irrigation and drainage in a sustainable future: USCID fourth international conference on irrigation and drainage on October 3-6, 2007 in Sacramento, California.Includes bibliographical references.A In order to promote irrigation sustainability through reporting by irrigation water managers around Australia, we have developed an adaptive framework and methodology for improved triple-bottom-line reporting. The Irrigation Sustainability Assessment Framework (ISAF) was developed to provide a comprehensive framework for irrigation sustainability assessment and integrated triple-bottom-line reporting, and is structured to promote voluntary application of this framework across the irrigation industry, with monitoring, assessment and feedback into future planning, in a continual learning process. Used in this manner the framework serves not only as a "reporting tool", but also as a "planning tool" for introducing innovative technology and as a "processes implementation tool" for enhanced adoption of new scientific research findings across the irrigation industry. The ISAF was applied in case studies to selected rural irrigation sector organisations, with modifications to meet their specific interests and future planning

USCID fourth international conference

Presented at the Role of irrigation and drainage in a sustainable future: USCID fourth international conference on irrigation and drainage on October 3-6, 2007 in Sacramento, California.Includes bibliographical references.The two-layer model of Shuttlerworth and Wallace (SW) was evaluated to estimate actual evapotranspiration (ETa) above a drip-irrigated Merlot vineyard, located in the Talca Valley, Region del Maule, Chile (35° 25' LS; 71° 32' LW ; 136m above the sea level). An automatic weather system was installed in the center of the vineyard to measure climatic variables (air temperature, relative humidity, and wind speed) and energy balance components (solar radiation, net radiation, latent heat flux, sensible heat flux, and soil heat flux) during November and December 2006. Values of ETa estimated by the SW model were tested with latent heat flux measurements obtained from an eddy-covariance system on a 30 minute time interval. Results indicated that SW model was able to predict ETa with a root mean square error (RMSE) of 0.44 mm d-1 and mean absolute error (MAE) of 0.36 mm d-1. Furthermore, SW model predicted latent heat flux with RMSE and MAE of 32 W m-2 and 19W m-1, respectively

USCID Fourth international conference on irrigation and drainage

Presented at the Role of irrigation and drainage in a sustainable future: USCID fourth international conference on irrigation and drainage on October 3-6, 2007 in Sacramento, California.Includes bibliographical references.Integrated regional water management -- Change of irrigation water quantity according to farm mechanization and land consolidation in Korea -- Local stakeholders participation for small scale water resources management in Bangladesh -- Water user participation in Egypt -- The man swimming against the stream knows the strength of it -- Roles and issues of Water Users' Associations for Sustainable Irrigation and Drainage in the Kyrgyz Republic and Uzbekistan in Central Asia -- Chartered Water User Associations of Afghanistan -- Updated procedures for calculating state-wide consumptive use in Idaho -- Measuring and estimating open water evaporation in Elephant Butte Reservoir in New Mexico -- Evapotranspiration of deficit irrigated sorghum and winter wheat -- Evaluation of a two-layer model to estimate actual evapotranspiration for vineyards -- Estimating pecan water use through remote sensing in Lower Rio Grande -- Estimating crop water use from remotely sensed NDVI, crop models, and reference ET -- Alfalfa production using saline drainage water -- Performance evaluation of subsurface drainage system under unsteady state flow conditions in coastal saline soils of Andhrapradesh, India -- Management strategies for the reuse of wastewater in Jordan -- Providing recycled water for crop irrigation and other uses in Gilroy, California -- Oakdale Irrigation District Water Resources Plan -- Use of information technology to support integrated water resources management implementation -- Decision-support systems for efficient irrigation in the Middle Rio Grande -- Salt management -- Ghazi Barotha Project on Indus River in Pakistan -- Field tests of OSIRI -- Water requirements, irrigation evaluation and efficiency in Tenerife's crops (Canary Islands, Spain) -- Using wireless technology to reduce water use in rice production -- Variability of crop coefficients in space and time -- Assessing the implementation of integrated water management approach in closed basins -- New strategies of donors in the irrigation sector of Africa -- Holistic perspective for investments in agricultural drainage in Egypt -- Mapping system and services for canal operation techniques -- An open channel network modernization with automated structures -- Canal control alternatives in the irrigation district 'Sector BXII del Bajo Guadalquivir,' Spain -- Hydrodynamic behavior of a canal network under simultaneous supply and demand based operations -- Simulation on the effect of microtopography spatial variability on basin irrigation performance -- Drip irrigation as a sustainable practice under saline shallow ground water conditions -- Water retention, compaction and bean yield in different soil managements under a center pivot system -- Precision mechanical move irrigation for smallholding farmers -- Wild flood to graded border irrigation for water and energy conservation in the Klamath basin -- A method describing precise water application intensity under a CPIS from a limited number of measurements -- An irrigation sustainability assessment framework for reporting across the environmental-economic-social spectrum -- Planning for future irrigation landscapes -- One size does not fit all -- Water information networks -- Improving water use efficiency -- Irrigation system modernization in the Middle Rio Grande Valley -- Relationship of operation stability and automatic operation control methods of open canal -- Responsive strategies of agricultural water sector in Taiwan -- Effect of network water distribution schedule and different on-farm water management practices on sugarbeet water use efficiency -- Variable Frequency Drive (VFD) considerations for irrigation -- Accuracy of radar water level measurements -- Transition submergence and hysteresis effects in three-foot Cutthroat flumes -- Practical irrigation flow measurement and control -- Linear anionic PAM as a canal water seepage reducing technology -- In-situ non-destructive monitoring of water flow in damaged agricultural pipeline by AE -- Reoptimizing global irrigation systems to restore floodplain ecosystems and human livelihoods -- Water management technologies for sustainable agriculture in Kenya -- Impacts of changing rice irrigation practices on the shallow aquifer of Nasunogahara basin, Japan -- Drought protection from an in-lieu groundwater banking program -- Development of agricultural drought evaluation system in Korea -- Bean yield and root development in different soil managements under a center pivot system -- Can frost damage impact water demand for crop production in the future? -- Real time water delivery management and planning in irrigation and drainage networks -- Growth response of palm trees to the frequency of irrigation by bubblers in Khuzestan, Iran -- Application of Backpropagation Neural Network to estimate evapotranspiration for ChiaNan irrigated area, Taiwan -- Increasing water and fertilizer use efficiency through rain gun sprinkler irrigation in sugar cane agriculture

USCID fourth international conference

Presented at the Role of irrigation and drainage in a sustainable future: USCID fourth international conference on irrigation and drainage on October 3-6, 2007 in Sacramento, California.Salt management is a critical component of irrigated agriculture in arid regions. Successful crop production cannot be sustained without maintaining an acceptable level of salinity in the root zone. This requires drainage and a location to dispose drainage water, particularly, the salts it contains, which degrade the quality of receiving water bodies. Despite the need to generate drainage water to sustain productivity, many irrigation schemes have been designed and constructed with insufficient attention to drainage, to appropriate re-use or disposal of saline drainage water, and to salt disposal in general. To control the negative effects of drainage water disposal, state and federal agencies in several countries now are placing regulations on the discharge of saline drainage water into rivers. As a result, many farmers have implemented irrigation and crop management practices that reduce drainage volumes. Farmers and technical specialists also are examining water treatment schemes to remove salt or dispose of saline drainage water in evaporation basins or in underlying groundwater. We propose that the responsibility for salt management be combined with the irrigation rights of farmers. This approach will focus farmers' attention on salt management and motivate water delivery agencies and farmers to seek efficient methods for reducing the amount of salt needing disposal and to determine methods of disposing salt in ways that are environmentally acceptable

USCID fourth international conference

Presented at the Role of irrigation and drainage in a sustainable future: USCID fourth international conference on irrigation and drainage on October 3-6, 2007 in Sacramento, California.Includes bibliographical references.Since 3000 BC, rice has been the main crop in the Korean Peninsula, and where currently most of the available irrigation water is used to grow paddy rice. Methods for calculating the quantity of irrigation water required developed in the 1990's were compared to quantities measured in the field. The largest difference between calculated and measured quantities occurred in April and May. Based on field data we obtained in the middle part of the Korean Peninsula, significant changes have occurred in rice management, which has changed the amount of irrigation water required. Rice is now transplanted earlier, and duration of the transplanting phase on the regional scale is shorter through mechanization and consolidation of land holdings. These changes need to be taken into account when calculating the quantity of water needed for irrigation

USCID fourth international conference

Presented at the Role of irrigation and drainage in a sustainable future: USCID fourth international conference on irrigation and drainage on October 3-6, 2007 in Sacramento, California.Includes bibliographical references.Experiences establishing Water User Associations (WUAs) in Egypt have been carried out for the past 15 years, with increasingly promising results. Most of these activities have been pilot projects aiming to demonstrate the benefits and sustainability of WUAs. They were consequently implemented through a centralized and resource-intensive process and focused on limited numbers of associations. Since 2003, the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation (MWRI) has adopted as policy the large-scale development of Branch Canal WUAs. With support from USAID, about 600 branch canal WUAs (BCWUAs) have since been established, covering 15% of Egypt's irrigated area and involving half a million farmers and residents. In order to achieve this impressive outcome, a different approach has been developed and implemented, emphasizing the direct involvement of MWRI field staff and a partnership between water users and MWRI managers. This paper also argues that the conventional approach of forming WUAs by focusing on water users, and empowering them to take over the O&M responsibilities of irrigation systems, is not adapted to the Egyptian context