In this seminar, Professor Erik Weyer from the University of Melbourne will discuss work on modelling, control and management of irrigation channels, rivers and pumped water distribution networks.

About the topic

Water is an increasingly scarce resource in many parts of the world, and it is important to manage the water resources well.  Operational losses in irrigation channels are often large due to a tendency to oversupply in order to make sure that water demands are met. These losses can be significantly reduced using automatic control systems where the gate position are adjusted in real time based on measurements of flows and water levels. This has led to increased level of service to irrigators and environmental benefit since less water is diverted away from natural waterways.

We will present methods for data driven modelling and control design for irrigation channels developed in collaboration with Rubicon Water and show results from operational irrigation channels. River operations needs to take uncertainty in in-flows and outflows into account. Uncertainty in flow forecasts are often represented using ensemble forecasts, and we will present a control strategy which makes use of ensemble forecast for control rivers using the upper part of the River Murray as an example.

Finally, the problem of minimizing energy costs in pumped water distribution networks will briefly be touched upon. At the end of the talk, we will touch on some possible topics for future research in this area within the One Basin CRC.

About the speaker

Professor Erik Weyer is with the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at The University of Melbourne. His research interests are in the areas of system identification and modelling and control of water resource systems.