Model predictive control on open water systems

Human life depends on water daily, especially for drinking and food production. Also, human life needs to be protected against excess of water caused by heavy precipitation and floods. People have formed water management organizations to guarantee these necessities of life for communities. These organizations manage a water system within the community and manipulate the water flows in this system to fulfill the water related requirements. To do so, controllable structures, such as gates and pumps are used. The way these structures are controlled, depending on the requirements of the communities, is part of the research field of control on water systems, often referred to as operational water management. In the research "Model Predictive Control on Open Water Systems", the relatively new control methodology Model Predictive Control is configured for application of water quantity control on open water systems, especially on irrigation canals and large drainage systems. The methodology applies an internal model of the open water system, by which optimal control actions are calculated over a prediction horizon.Civil Engineering and Geoscience

Reading ground water levels with a smartphone

Water ManagementCivil Engineering and Geoscience

Reading water quality variables with a smartphone

Water ManagementCivil Engineering and Geoscience

Reading gate positions with a smartphone

Water ManagementCivil Engineering and Geoscience

A joint probability approach using a 1-D hydrodynamic model for estimating high water level frequencies in the Lower Rhine Delta

The Lower Rhine Delta, a transitional area between the River Rhine and Meuse and the North Sea, is at risk of flooding induced by infrequent events of a storm surge or upstream flooding, or by more infrequent events of a combination of both. A joint probability analysis of the astronomical tide, the wind induced storm surge, the Rhine flow and the Meuse flow at the boundaries is established in order to produce the joint probability distribution of potential flood events. Three individual joint probability distributions are established corresponding to three potential flooding causes: storm surges and normal Rhine discharges, normal sea levels and high Rhine discharges, and storm surges and high Rhine discharges. For each category, its corresponding joint probability distribution is applied, in order to stochastically simulate a large number of scenarios. These scenarios can be used as inputs to a deterministic 1-D hydrodynamic model in order to estimate the high water level frequency curves at the transitional locations. The results present the exceedance probability of the present design water level for the economically important cities of Rotterdam and Dordrecht. The calculated exceedance probability is evaluated and compared to the governmental norm. Moreover, the impact of climate change on the high water level frequency curves is quantified for the year 2050 in order to assist in decisions regarding the adaptation of the operational water management system and the flood defense system.Hydraulic EngineeringCivil Engineering and Geoscience

Coordinated model predictive reach control for irrigation canals

Irrigation canals are large-scale systems, covering vast geographical areas, and consisting of many interconnected canal reaches that interact with control structures such as pumps and gates. The control of such irrigation canals is usually done in a manual way, in which a human operator travels along the irrigation canal to adjust the settings of the gates and pumps in order to obtain a desired water level. In this paper we discuss how distributed model predictive control (MPC) can be applied to determine autonomously what the settings of these control structures should be. In particular, we propose the application of a distributed MPC scheme for control of the West-M irrigation canal in Arizona. We present a linearized model representing the dynamics of the canal, we propose a distributed MPC scheme that uses this model as a prediction model, and we illustrate the performance of the scheme in simulation studies on a nonlinear simulation model of the canal.Delft Center for Systems and ControlMechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineerin

Model selection for salt water intrusion in delta areas

Due to land subsidence and sea level rise, salt intrusion in delta areas increases. This is a potential thread for agriculture in these areas. To investigate this thread and measures that can counteract on it, numerical models are developed to mimic the behavior of the water system under different strategies and scenarios. This behavior is characterized by a complex interaction among flows, water levels and salinity concentrations, distributed in time and space. On top of this, controllable structures such as locks and gates, are operated and influence the situation. The selection of the type of model that is used in the investigation is essential for the results.This can range from a 1-dimensional flow model without density flow that is custom for integrated water management to a 3-dimensional fully coupled flow and salinity model. In this paper we describe our experience with model type selection for these types of water systemsWater ManagementCivil Engineering and Geoscience

Kantelstuwmeting op basis van beeldherkenning

Een nieuwe manier van meten van kantelstuwstanden, de Mobile Tracker-­FL, wordt momenteel getest bij het hoogheemraadschap De Stichtse Rijnlanden. Waterschap Aa en Maas, heeft de meetmethode, na een uitgebreide pilot, in gebruik genomen. De methode werkt met een klein, speciaal waterpas, dat op de stuw gemonteerd wordt. Met een smartphone-­?app wordt een foto genomen, waarna beeldherkenningssoftware de hoek van de stuw bepaalt, en daaruit de stuwstand. De gegevens worden opgeslagen in het Water Informatie Systeem van het waterschap. De metingen zijn nauwkeuriger dan handmatig opgenomen waarden.Civil Engineering and Geoscience

Influence of a storm surge barrier’s operation on the flood frequency in the Rhine Delta area

The Rhine River Delta is crucial to the Dutch economy. The Maeslant barrier was built in 1997 to protect the Rhine estuary, with the city and port of Rotterdam, from storm surges. This research takes a simple approach to quantify the influence of the Maeslant storm surge barrier on design water levels behind the barrier. The dikes in the area are supposed to be able to withstand these levels. Equal Level Curves approach is used to calculate the Rotterdam water levels by using Rhine discharges and sea water levels as input. Their joint probability function generates the occurrence frequency of a certain combination that will lead to a certain high water level in Rotterdam. The results show that the flood frequency in Rotterdam is reduced effectively with the controlled barrier in current and in future scenarios influenced by climate change. In addition, an investigation of the sensitivity of the operational parameters suggests that there is a negligible influence on the high water level frequency when the decision closing water level for the barrier is set higher due to the benefits of navigation (but not exceeding the design safety level 4 m MSL).Hydraulic EngineeringCivil Engineering and Geoscience

Water prediction and control technologies for large-scale water systems

Water ManagementCivil Engineering and Geoscience