Understanding deep aquifer responses to interseam materials of brown coal mines
- Rastogi, Sid, Barton, Andrew, Mackay, Rae, Kandra, Harpreet, Tolooiyan, Ali
- Authors: Rastogi, Sid , Barton, Andrew , Mackay, Rae , Kandra, Harpreet , Tolooiyan, Ali
- Date: 2018
- Type: Text , Conference proceedings , Conference paper
- Relation: 2018 Hydrology and Water Resources Symposium: Water and Communities, HWRS 2018; Melbourne, Australia; 3rd-6th December 2018 p. 711-722
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Brown coal deposits in the Latrobe Valley form part of the tertiary coal system of the Gippsland Basin, which is one of three major tertiary basins in Victoria, Australia. There are currently two operating brown coal mines in the Latrobe Valley (Yallourn and Loy Yang Mines) where coal is mined for power generation, with a third mine (Hazelwood) having recently ceased operations. An ongoing challenge in the mines is the management of geotechnical stability of the open pit batters. This includes the management of significant issues such as instability due to floor heave which is directly related to groundwater pressures of the underlying confined aquifers. The time dependent pressure distributions in the interseam layers are complex due to the complex heterogeneous stratigraphy of these layers. A model of the fine scale stratigraphy using Minescape has been developed to explore how pressure redistribution occurs and how the groundwater flow systems impact the interseam pore pressures due to pumping activity, leading to potential impacts on the mine batter movements. The objective of the preliminary groundwater modelling presented in this paper is to examine the hydraulic connectivity between the lower pumped aquifer layers and the upper sandy layers. The goal is to assess whether the connections are solely through vertical flows through the interbedded aquitard layers or whether there are lateral connections of the sandy layers that govern the vertical connections. A one-dimensional vertical flow model has been used for this purpose in conjunction with high quality groundwater head data from multiple depths in vertically sealed bores. The results suggest that the pressure redistributions vertically cannot be explained by vertical flows alone and that lateral exchange between layers is also occurring. This work will inform the next stage of modelling that will use the detailed stratigraphic modelling in three dimensions.
- Authors: Barton, Andrew , Wilson, Kym
- Date: 2018
- Type: Text , Conference proceedings , Conference paper
- Relation: 2018 Hydrology and Water Resources Symposium: Water and Communities, HWRS 2018; Melbourne, Australia; 3rd-6th December 2018 p. 60-71
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: This paper describes principles for the apportionment of water allocations to users of a multi-reservoir water supply system utilising a volume shared entitlement and allocation framework. The challenge of this problem is that volume shared systems determine the available water for allocation based on a total system approach. The subsequent operational challenge is to then apportion this total volume of available water to specific reservoirs to meet individual user requirements. This is an important problem as entitlement and allocation frameworks usually have the water resource assessment process and high-level water sharing principles enshrined in a set of legally binding orders and instruments. However, some systems still have a subsequent apportionment of allocation problem, not codified in any binding document, where decisions need to be made around how much allocation should be made available from particular reservoirs for the various stakeholders or user groups. In shared systems where contests over water is common, or access to allocation may vary over time, it is desirable that the agency responsible for making the resource decisions uses an objective, fair and equitable method of allocating water. To work through this problem and present the set of principles for apportionment, the Wimmera-Glenelg System located in western Victoria, Australia, is used as a case study. The Wimmera-Glenelg System is a complex water resource system with multiple reservoirs and many different user groups and stakeholders. The region is also subject to a highly variable climate with frequent dry periods and water rationing, creating periods of time where the equitable apportionment of allocation becomes incredibly important. Concepts of capacity sharing have been used to help with the development of the apportionment principles to help maximise the transparency in decision making to stakeholders and because the system does have an emerging water market where commercial and economic certainty is becoming paramount. However, capacity sharing for systems with multiple reservoirs is not common, and so even this has limitations in use. The principles described can be universally applied to reservoir systems of varying complexity, where there are multiple users, and is compatible with both capacity shared systems and newer continuous sharing or continuous accounting systems. Results are shown for the Wimmera-Glenelg System. © CURRAN-CONFERENCE. All rights reserved.
Testing the robustness of optimal operating plans under various future hydro-climatic scenarios
- Godoy, Walter, Barton, Andrew, Wilson, K., Perera, B.
- Authors: Godoy, Walter , Barton, Andrew , Wilson, K. , Perera, B.
- Date: 2018
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: 2018 Hydrology and Water Resources Symposium: Water and Communities, HWRS 2018 p. 267-283
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: A key challenge for water resources planning processes around the world is to develop operating plans that are optimal under a range of hydro-climatic conditions. The consequences of such long term planning decisions can vary in terms of the social, economic, and environmental impacts. Given these potential impacts, it is important that operating plans are tested under a range of hydro-climatic conditions to ensure that they are sufficiently robust to withstand future changes in climate. The aim of this study is to present a procedure for testing the robustness of optimal operating plans for complex water resources systems using a combined multi-objective optimisation and sustainability assessment approach. The approach embeds an optimisation-simulation (O-S) model which is applied to an 18-objective function multi-objective optimisation problem of the Wimmera-Mallee Water Supply System (WMWSS). The WMWSS is a multi-reservoir system located in Western Victoria (Australia) which is operated to meet a range of competing interests for water using complex operating rules. The O-S model is applied to the WMWSS to search for optimal operating plans over a 100-year period into the future assuming two plausible greenhouse gas (GHG) emission levels. The two GHG emission scenarios represent lower and higher ends of the estimated range of projected GHG emissions, providing a wide range of future hydro-climatic conditions. A robustness test is used to evaluate the validity of the most sustainable optimal operating plans under the two GHG emmission scenarios and also those found previously under a historic hydro-climatic sequence. The test results show that the status quo or base case operating plan is optimal but is neither the highest nor the lowest in terms of the level of sustainability that could be achieved in the WMWSS, under historic and the higher GHG emission scenario. Moreover, the results show that the most sustainable optimal operating plans found under the three hydro-climatic scenarios are sufficiently robust to withstand the full range of hydro-climatic conditions considered whereas the base case operating plan is not as robust. The risks involved in the implementation of operating plans which exhibit large deviations from the base case operating plan are discussed. These risks highlight the importance of problem formulation and sensitivity analysis of the optimal operating plans in order to find real world solutions to real world problems. © CURRAN-CONFERENCE. All rights reserved.
- Authors: Godoy, Walter , Barton, Andrew , Wilson, K. , Perera, B.
- Date: 2018
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: 2018 Hydrology and Water Resources Symposium: Water and Communities, HWRS 2018 p. 267-283
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: A key challenge for water resources planning processes around the world is to develop operating plans that are optimal under a range of hydro-climatic conditions. The consequences of such long term planning decisions can vary in terms of the social, economic, and environmental impacts. Given these potential impacts, it is important that operating plans are tested under a range of hydro-climatic conditions to ensure that they are sufficiently robust to withstand future changes in climate. The aim of this study is to present a procedure for testing the robustness of optimal operating plans for complex water resources systems using a combined multi-objective optimisation and sustainability assessment approach. The approach embeds an optimisation-simulation (O-S) model which is applied to an 18-objective function multi-objective optimisation problem of the Wimmera-Mallee Water Supply System (WMWSS). The WMWSS is a multi-reservoir system located in Western Victoria (Australia) which is operated to meet a range of competing interests for water using complex operating rules. The O-S model is applied to the WMWSS to search for optimal operating plans over a 100-year period into the future assuming two plausible greenhouse gas (GHG) emission levels. The two GHG emission scenarios represent lower and higher ends of the estimated range of projected GHG emissions, providing a wide range of future hydro-climatic conditions. A robustness test is used to evaluate the validity of the most sustainable optimal operating plans under the two GHG emmission scenarios and also those found previously under a historic hydro-climatic sequence. The test results show that the status quo or base case operating plan is optimal but is neither the highest nor the lowest in terms of the level of sustainability that could be achieved in the WMWSS, under historic and the higher GHG emission scenario. Moreover, the results show that the most sustainable optimal operating plans found under the three hydro-climatic scenarios are sufficiently robust to withstand the full range of hydro-climatic conditions considered whereas the base case operating plan is not as robust. The risks involved in the implementation of operating plans which exhibit large deviations from the base case operating plan are discussed. These risks highlight the importance of problem formulation and sensitivity analysis of the optimal operating plans in order to find real world solutions to real world problems. © CURRAN-CONFERENCE. All rights reserved.
- «
- ‹
- 1
- ›
- »