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ARS Home » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #86803
Title: TEST CASES FOR CANAL CONTROL ALGORITHMS

Author
item Clemmens, Albert
item KACEREK, TIM - CENTRAL AZ PROJECT, AZ
item GRAWITZ, BRUNO - GERSAR, FRANCE
item SCHUURMANS, WYTZE - TECH UNIV, NETHERLANDS

Submitted to: Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/1/1997
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. For many large irrigation projects, the physical infrastructure that delivers water to users influences their ability to manage the water supplied to them. Most large water delivery systems convey and distribute water with canals rather than pipelines. For large scale systems, canals are an order of magnitude less expensive than pipelines. Infrastructure improvements (e.g., conversion to pressurized pipelines) are typically very expensive relative to changes in operations. Operations can be improved by providing canal operators with 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. An international team of experts in this technical field are cooperating to advance this technology so that it can be more readily adopted. This paper presents a set of test cases and associated performance parameters that can be used to compare various control strategies. The paper also suggests a format for presenting test results. The results should be useful for developers of canal control methods and ultimately to irrigation districts, consulting engineers and the Bureau of Reclamation.

Technical Abstract: The ASCE Task Committee on Canal Automation Algorithms developed a series of test cases to test the general suitability of canal-control scheme logic. The primary intent of these tests is preliminary screening of various feedback control methods. The testing is to be performed with an unsteady-flow simulation model. Two test canals are presented, representing extremes in hydraulic properties. For each, two test scenarios are presented to cover a range of flow conditions. For each test there are both known-anticipated and unknown-unanticipated changes in offtake flows. Each test is run twice, once for the hydraulic conditions under which the controller was tuned and once for a slightly different set of hydraulic conditions. The latter tests determine how the algorithm will respond with imperfect information and over time as properties change. Recommendations are given on how to present the results of these test cases sand the associated set of performance indicators or measures. Some representative test results are also provided for one test case.