Application of differential game theory to reservoir operations on sediment-laden rivers

Flushing of sediments from reservoirs has always been one of the major issues in reservoir operation on sediment-laden rivers.Since reservoir recharge and sediment loading occur mainly during flooding seasons,the conflict of interests among the promotion of advantages (water supply) and the elimination of disadvantages (sediment flushing) has become increasingly conspicuous.Such a conflict could be resolved using the differential game theory.As the result,an optimization model is developed for a comprehensive solution of having mutual benefits among the two competing parameters.The solution can be used as the optimized plan for reservoir operations during flooding seasons.The model is tested using the observation from a reservoir on the Heihe River in the Shanxi province of China.The result shows that the model can adequately deal with the conflict of interests among the reservoir water supply and the reservoir sediment flushing to achieve an optimized reservoir operation.