Development and application of an equal volume of storage optimization model for reservoir flood-control

The method of equal volume of storage is a general operation in flood control planning and real-time scheduling in China. It uses the trial method to calculate the three parameters, i. e., the flow of storage, the initial flow before control and the duration of control. To improve this method, this paper proposes an integer linear programming model based on equal volume of storage for reservoir flood-control (RFEV-ILP). It takes the flow of storage as an input parameter, with 0 and 1 representing storing and releasing water, respectively. Additionally, it defines minimum stored water volume as an objective function, calculating the duration by setting the continuity of the water storage constraint in storing. A case studied in the Tingzikou reservoir perfectly illustrates that the proposed model is more stable and has less than 1% in flood control capacity as calculated by compensative regulation. Based on the optimization model, the numerical relationship between flood control storage and the three parameters can be deduced. It can also reveal the relationship between the flood control risk and the flow of equal volume, as well as the effects of the distance between the reservoir and flood control station on the range of flow and corresponding flood control strategy.