Roland W. Jeppson

On-demand canal operation: Optimally designed

The design of most canal systems requires that they be operated under rigid schedules, rather thanon-demand. Rigid schedule operation results in water wastage through spillage, or users ‘taking their turn’ even when the water cannot be efficiently used. This paper develops a two step method for optimally designing a canal system so it can be operated effectively under user on-demand requests for water. The first step determines the cross-sectional dimensions of the canal to provide storage capabilities while minimizing costs, by solving an appropriate nonlinear optimization problem. In the second step a hydraulic simulation model finds a near-optimal storage capacity based on construction and right-of-way costs, penalties due to operational water losses, water over supplied to users and supply shortages. The performance is evaluated by a quality index that is defined as the ratio of volume of satisfied demands to total volume of water requested. Results of regression equations from hundreds of computer sensitivity analyses relating variables are summarized in tables.