Optimal operating method of gate and pump switching in water transfer project

The Yellow River diversion project consists of three gates, two pumping stations, and one plain reservoir, with a total river length of 17.46 km in the Panzhuang Yellow River irrigation area, which provides the primary water source for the Dezhou central city, Shandong Province, China. The project is subject to the constraints of the Yellow River diversion sluice diverting water time, reservoir diverting water time, and combinations of pumping stations with self-flowing gates. The opening and closing forms of the gates and pumps are complicated and irregular, and the switching of the gates and pumps mainly depends on the experience of the staff, which makes the water transfer cost high and the water transfer time long. Based on engineering compositions in the study area, an optimal mathematical model is constructed by the dynamic programming method. By combining the flow and water level, the objectives of the minimum operation cost, the shortest water transfer time and the combination of the two are established. A new optimization scheme of the switch between gates and pumps combined with water level and flow is proposed, which reduces the operation cost by 20% and the water transfer time by 8%, providing an efficient operation mode. HIGHLIGHTS A dynamic programming method is adopted to solve the switching problem of gates and pumps in a cross-basin water transfer line.; Establish the optimal model of the optimal economy, the fastest water transfer rate, and the combination of the two; obtain the combination of gate and pump dispatching; reduce the operating cost of water transfer; and improve the efficiency of water transfer.

A New Perspective to Explore the Hydraulic Connectivity of Karst Aquifer System in Jinan Spring Catchment, China

Investigating the hydraulic connectivity of a complex karst aquifer system is an important research topic for sustainable operation and optimization layout of karst groundwater exploitation and recharge. However, the identification of preferential sites of recharge and exploitation is usually subject to regional hydrogeology conditions and the mechanisms of recharge and exploitation. The conventional research methods of hydraulic connectivity often have some limitations. In this study, we developed an improved grey amplitude relation model to explore the hydraulic connectivity in Jinan spring catchment and presented a quantized evaluation index water table fluctuation relation degree (WTFRD) using karst groundwater table data in Western Jinan and Jinan spring groups from 2014 to 2017. Results showed that the total WTFRD was 0.854 between Western Jinan and Jinan spring groups when the external distraction for karst groundwater table was the smallest, which was in high relation degree grade. Meanwhile, the change rules of karst groundwater table in the two sites were basically the same. Accordingly, a high connectivity occurred between the two karst aquifers from a statistical perspective, and further illustrated that Western Jinan could be selected as preferential experiment sites. A comprehensive case in Jinan spring catchment indicated that the WTFRD provided a preliminary idea to investigate hydraulic connectivity quantitatively. This method could be considered as a pre-study of the conventional experiments to form a high-efficiency and low-cost combined method, which has great potential and merits further study