STATE VARIABLES UPDATING ALGORITHM FOR OPEN-CHANNEL AND RESERVOIR FLOW SIMULATION MODEL

The core of the state-of-the-art decision support systems for operational planning and management of hydropower plants is a hydrodynamic simulation model that uses information about measured and forecasted values of model forcing for prediction of water levels and flows in streams and reservoirs. Having in mind the complexity of real world systems, these issues cannot be solved analytically, thus requiring application of numerical methods. This paper discusses the use of numerical procedures in solving standard full motion equations for onedimensional unsteady flow in open channels and structures. The produced energy is estimated based on up-to-date model states. A methodology for updating of model states using measured values of physical states in order to improve operational use of the model is presented in this paper. According to presented methodology, a state updating module is designed for “Iron Gate” (“Đerdap” in Serbian; “Portile de Fier” in Romanian) hydropower plants simulation model. Regarding importance of accurate electricity generation estimates in operational use of the model, special attention is given to the design of the module and methodology in order to reduce the deviation of estimated state values from measured values. The efficiency of proposed methodology is shown on an example of operational use for several days. The example clearly shows the disadvantages of simulation model without state updating procedure applied and the benefits of using state updating module in operational management of complex hydropower plants system.