The Development and Use of Policy Statements in River Simulation Models

by Jon S. Behrens, Jon Behrens & Associates, Inc, Longmont, United States,
Daniel P. Loucks, Jon Behrens & Associates, Inc, Longmont, United States,
Hussam Fahmy, Jon Behrens & Associates, Inc, Longmont, United States,



Document Type: Proceeding Paper

Part of: Water Management in the '90s: A Time for Innovation

Abstract:

There are a number of ways in which the physical operation of a river system can be expressed in simulation models. Most of the earlier simulation models have incorporated the operating policy within the program itself. This requires changing the code each time the operating policy is to be changed. With the advent of interactive simulation, operating policies are now usually defined in the input data. For example models that use reservoir release rules or storage target rule curves to determine reservoir releases and storage volumes, and models that use storage target distribution functions of one type or another will have these functions and rules defined by input parameters. Thus the code itself need not be changed to perform multiple simulations of different operating policies. Work at CADSWES on the development and application of an object oriented river system simulation model (RSS) has included the use of English - like policy statements as part of the input data. These statements are written in a specific format and allow more flexibility than when specific policies are written directly into the code. This paper discusses how external policy statements are written and how they interact with the object-oriented simulation engine to provide the river basin modeler with a flexible and powerful tool.

Subject Headings: Simulation models | Computer models | Rivers and streams | Mathematical models | Decision support systems | Basins | Water storage

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