Simulating Controlled and Uncontrolled Reservoir Discharges

Posted by Jason Lillywhite

When simulating ponds and reservoirs in GoldSim, one of the most common types of systems we see are the combination of controlled and uncontrolled discharges. Examples of uncontrolled discharges include evaporation losses and flood flows over a spillway. Examples of controlled discharges include water that is pumped out or flows through an opening in the outlet works. Controlled outflows deliver water to service necessary uses downstream such as irrigation or industrial water demands.

In this blog post, I will walk through the process of setting up this type of model in GoldSim. Hopefully this will provide a good resource for those of you working on conceptual water balance models for your projects.

Simulating Mixed-Media Storage

Posted by Jason Lillywhite

I created a model for demonstrating how to simulate mixed-media storage that accounts for changing quantities of solids and water over time. This kind of model is useful in mine water management models (tailings facilities) and also for simulating sediment accumulation in reservoirs. GoldSim makes it easy to account for the changes in the media while also managing overflows and operations of inflows in a way that is easy to use and understand.  

Annual Recurrence Interval of Reservoir Spills

Posted by Jason Lillywhite

Models are built to better inform decisions. Unfortunately, the numerous disparate outputs of statistical models are often difficult to make sense of for the decision makers and/or stakeholders. Compiling the risk of specific events potentially occurring in the future into a single variable can considerably assist the decision makers into comparing the various trade-offs between different scenarios.

One of our long-time GoldSim users, Simon Chambert of Macroscopia submitted a model to our Model Library that is helpful for those looking for the recurrence interval of an event like a pond overflowing. Both the recurrence interval and exceedence probability are computed and displayed for a given set of input parameters that describe the pond design and constraints. This example can be used for other models that need to compute an annual recurrence interval.