Author(s): - Ute Theobald; Univ. - - Stephan Theobald
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Keywords: No Keywords
Abstract: For the operation of hydropower plants, the following-often contrary–requirements have to be considered: safety of navigation, intensive use of hydropower, flood protection, water demand for industrial and irrigation purposes and minimization of the number of actuator operations (turbines, weirs). Today the automated control of a reservoir or a cascade of reservoirs is of increasing importance. On the one hand, the control system has to meet the above-mentioned requirements with increasing demands in control performance and high reliability of operation. On the other hand, there is the complex, highly nonlinear, unsteady and locally distributed hydraulic behaviour in the reach as well as the variable operation conditions of the barrage with changing requirements for discharges via turbines and weirs. The main influence on the hydraulic behaviour is determined by the operation of locks, the demand-driven production of electric energy, flow into or out of the reach, rain, snowmelt, etc. For the sake of reliability, each reservoir is controlled by a local controller. In the case of a cascade of reservoirs and especially if a considerable reservoir volume is available, a central water management system in addition to the local controllers is favourable. An upstream water gauge with periodical discharge measurements is needed to provide a forecast of discharge in the controlled river reaches. A specifically adapted optimization tool helps to meet requirements like power modulation for the optimization of energy production or prevention of the amplification of discharge variations. The method used to design the local controller and the central water management system is a hydrodynamic-numerical model coupled with control algorithms and optimization tools, all interacting from one calculation time step to the next. The paper describes a numerical method to design the structure and to optimize the parameters of the central water management system, taking into account its requirements with minimum design and realization efforts. It has been applied successfully in several projects in research and practice. Case studies of the rivers Rhine and Moselle show its practical application.
Year: 2010