Sediment in Mosul Dam reservoir using the HEC-RAS model : Sediment in Mosul Dam reservoir using the HEC-RAS model

Mosul Dam, located on the Tigris River north of Iraq, is experiencing sedimentation problems, especially near the Al-Jazeera pumping station that supplies the irrigation water for the Al-Jazeera project. The sources of the sediment accumulated within the reservoir are from the Tigris River, as well as ten side valleys on both sides of the reservoir. The sediment inflow rate into the reservoir and the released values are considered on the basis of the operation schedule of the dam for the considered period from 1986 to 2011. The sediment loads were estimated on the basis of available measurements and estimated literature values. The HEC-RAS 4.1 model was used for flows and sediments in the main river and reservoir. The model was calibrated for flow simulations (coefficient of determination r2 = 0.87) and sediment routing based on bed level, (with resultant r2 = 0.98 and Mean Absolute Deviation of 0.95). The Ackers–White equation was used in the HEC-RAS model for sediment routing because of the wide range of sediment sizes in the study case. The resultant total accumulated sediment load volume was 1.13 km3, a value that is very close to the measured values (1.143 km3) obtained from a previous bathymetric survey. Furthermore, the model indicated most of the sediment (80.7%) was deposited during the first five of the dam operation.<p>Validerad; 2016; Nivå 1; 2016-10-17 (andbra)