A MATLAB GUI program for reservoir management to simultaneously optimise sediment release and power generation

Area of Science:

• Environmental Engineering
• Water Resource Management
• Computational Fluid Dynamics

Background:

• Reservoir sedimentation significantly impacts functionality and lifespan.
• Sediment flushing is crucial but often conflicts with hydropower generation goals.
• Optimizing sediment discharge requires balancing competing operational objectives.

Purpose of the Study:

• Develop reservoir management software for simultaneous optimization of sediment discharge and hydropower generation.
• Integrate a novel sediment transport rate calculation method.
• Provide a graphical interface for visualizing optimal operational schedules.

Main Methods:

• Developed reservoir management software using MATLAB with a Graphical User Interface (GUI).
• Employed the Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm II (NSGA-II) for multi-objective optimization.
• Calculated sediment transport rate via integration of suspended load concentration and flow velocity profiles.

Main Results:

• Within a 5% discharge variation, sediment release increased by 2.07 × 10^6 t, with a 10^10 kWh reduction in power generation.
• Sediment release improved by up to 3.31% with only a 0.03% decrease in power generation compared to original schemes.
• Dual objectives (sediment and power) were optimized by 7.30% and 3.92% respectively during flood season.

Conclusions:

• The developed software effectively optimizes reservoir operations for sediment management and hydropower generation.
• The approach offers a practical solution for extending reservoir service life through enhanced sediment flushing.
• The model is generalizable to various reservoir systems, aiding sustainable water resource management.