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Title: IDENTIFICATION OF OPEN CHANNEL CHARACTERSITICS

Author
item HOF, A - DELFT UNIV OF TECH, NETH
item SILVIS, L - DELFT UNIV OF TECH, NETH
item BROUWER, R - DELFT UNIV OF TECH, NETH
item VAN DEN HOF, PMJ - DELFT UNIV OF TECH, NETH
item Clemmens, Albert

Submitted to: Proceedings of the Third International Symposium on Stormwater Management ...
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/30/1998
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Water is becoming a scarce resource, and agricultural water users are under pressure to use water more judiciously. The irrigation community is under particular pressure to improve its water management. Irrigation districts can improve their operation by giving canal operators better tools for determining control actions. One such tool is computerized automatic control of canal gates. This technology, however, is not routinely available to irrigation district personnel and consultants. The USDA-ARS U.S. Water Conservation Laboratory is helping the Salt River Project (SRP) with the testing and implementation of canal automation on a small portion of their system. This paper describes progress on a method for determining the properties of a canal from tests conducted on canal water flow. The alternative to this method is detailed, expensive engineering studies. Tests conducted on SRP canals confirmed that the new method can be used to develop canal control details without expensive engineering studies. Further work is needed to refine the method for practical application. These results will be useful to irrigation districts, consultants, and the Bureau of Reclamation.

Technical Abstract: This paper focuses on identification of open-channel characteristics. It describes a method to obtain an approximate model of water movement using linear regression techniques known as system identification. The derived model is to be used for the design of a real-time control system. The principles of identification and design of experiments on open-channels are eexpounded. The method was applied at Salt River Project's Arizona Canal i Central Arizona.