SedSim: A River Basin Simulation Screening Model for Reservoir Management of Sediment, Water, and Hydropower

Abstract

SedSim is an open-source model for simulating water and sediment flows, and hydropower production, in networks of reservoirs and river channels. SedSim enables water resources systems analysts and planners to explore alternative system configurations of reservoir sites, designs (i.e., dam outlet structures), and operating policies (SDO), and their implications for water flows, sediment transport, reservoir sediment trapping, and hydropower production in any river basin. The model enables simulation of a wide range of reservoir sediment management techniques, including flushing, sluicing, density current venting, bypassing, and dredging. The source code is written in the Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) language. The model is freely available at www.github.com/FeralFlows/SedSim strong Funding statement: The development of this model was supported by the Natural Heritage Institute through U.S. Agency for International Development Cooperative Agreement AID-486-A-11-00002.

Keywords

• reservoir sediment management
• dams
• reservoirs
• hydropower
• river basin simulation
• sediment transport
• hydrology