Abstract
Hitherto, there has been insufficient work to quantify the degree of mutual feedback among the different objectives of multi-objective reservoir operation. The purpose of this study is to use a Multi-objective Correlation Index (MCI) to quantitatively analyze the complicated relationship of a multi-objective reservoir operation under changing inflow and water demands. First, an improved maximum probability density function method has been used to generate the adaptive ecological flow thresholds in long-term, wet-year, normal-year and dry-year inflow scenarios. Based on these ecological flow thresholds, a multi-objective reservoir optimal operation including the three objectives of power generation, water supply and ecology is constructed to research the tradeoff relationship among the objectives. Moreover, using the optimal solution set as determined by the Progressive Optimality Algorithm-Particle Swarm Optimization (POA-PSO) algorithm, the MCI is used to quantify the degree of the tradeoffs and their trends in responding to the changing conditions. The results show that the synergistic degree between the water supply and ecological objective decreases when the climatic condition changes from wet years to dry years, while the conflicting degree of power generation with respect to water supply or ecological objectives increases. Furthermore, the major degree of tradeoffs changes from the power generation-ecological flow objective pair to the power generation-water supply objective pair. In general, the MCI is able to quantify the extent and characteristics of the tradeoffs between different objectives. Hence, this index is useful for managers to make more informed and transparent decisions.
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Data available after request from the corresponding author.
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Acknowledgments
This research is financially supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (Grant No.:2016YFC0401306) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No.91647204).
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Conceptualization, methodology, formal analysis, investigation, writing—original draft preparation, Zhenhui Wu; Writing—review and editing, Yadong Mei; Data curation, Bei Cheng; Resources, Supervision, and updating some parts, Yadong Mei and Tiesong Hu.
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Wu, Z., Mei, Y., Cheng, B. et al. Use of a Multi-Objective Correlation Index to Analyze the Power Generation, Water Supply and Ecological Flow Mutual Feedback Relationship of a Reservoir. Water Resour Manage 35, 465–480 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-020-02726-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-020-02726-x