Design of Water Diversion Structures Based Optimization Approach

Diversion structures such as barrages (diversion dams) and weirs are integral part of water resources infrastructure development of a country; they are the main component of any canal head work. Most procedures of design adopt the profile dimensions sanctioned by common practice; however, there is no specific procedure to fix the basic parameters in a cost-effective manner. Present work discusses the procedure of optimal design using Genetic algorithm (GA), an optimization-based methodology is presented to obtain the optimum dimensions that minimize the overall cost as well as satisfy the safety and functionality requirements. A parametric study was accompanied to identify the change in the barrage cost and profile dimensioning due to change in design conditions. Results show that the proposed optimization approach is capable of finding economic and safe design of the barrage. Among the design parameters, the flood discharge proved to have the greatest effect on the overall cost of the barrage, since a 20% increase in its value causes the cost to be increased by (16%); moreover, it showed that a barrage constructed on fine-grained soil is costlier than that constructed on a foundation of coarser bed material. Keywords: Nonlinear Optimization Problem, Genetic Algorithm, Barrages, Parametric Study, Percentage Difference Method