Sharif Digital Repository

In this study, two conceptual models, the classic reservoir (CR) model and exchange reservoirs model embedded by dual porosity approach (DPR) are developed for simulation of karst aquifer functioning drained by multiple outlets. The performances of two developed models are demonstrated at a less developed karstic aquifer with three spring outlets located in Zagros Mountain in the south-west of Iran using 22-years of daily data. During the surface recharge, a production function based on water mass balance is implemented for computing the time series of surface recharge to the karst formations. The efficiency of both models has been assessed for simulation of daily spring discharge during the... 

This study proposes a novel socio-hydrological modeling framework for assessing the performance of complex water resources systems. It employs and integrates agent-based modeling (ABM) and the theory of planned behavior (TPB) into the socio-hydrological modeling framework to account for agents’ behaviors. Due to farmers’ major role in anthropogenic droughts, this paper mainly focuses on farmers’ behavior. The TPB framework and the agents’ behavioral rules in ABM are structured based on the data obtained from field questionnaires and interviews by the farmers in the Zarrineh River Basin as the main river feeding the Urmia Lake. The proposed modeling framework, including the TPB and ABM... 

Since the term was coined in the Brundtland report in 1987, the issue of sustainable development has been challenged in terms of quantification. Different policy options may lend themselves more or less to the underlying principles of sustainability, but no analytical tools are available for a more in-depth assessment of the degree of sustainability. Overall, there are two major schools of thought employing the sustainability concept in managerial decisions: those of measuring and those of monitoring. Measurement of relative sustainability is the key issue in bridging the gap between theory and practice of sustainability of water resources systems. The objective of this study is to develop a... 

The city of Zahedan, in South-eastern Iran, has high population growth, limited local freshwater resources and inadequate water distribution system resulting in water supply failures in recent years. This paper will investigate integration of several demand management measures such as leakage detection on water distribution network, water metering and low volume water fixtures as well as the conjunctive use of surface and groundwater resources of this city. For integration of water management criteria, compromise programming will be used as a multi-objective decision making method. The criteria include minimizing the cost, maximizing water supply and minimizing the social hazards due to the... 

Understanding the fresh groundwater lens (FGL) behavior and potential threat of climatic-induced seawater intrusion (SWI) are significant for the future water resources management of many small islands. In this paper, the FGL of Kish Island, an arid-region case in the Persian Gulf, Iran, is modeled using two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) simulations. These simulations are based on the application of SUTRA, a density-dependent groundwater numerical model. Also, the numerical model parameters are calibrated using PEST, an automated parameter estimation code. Firstly a detailed conceptualization of the FGL model is completed to understand the sensitivity of the FGL to some... 

The fresh groundwater lenses (FGLs) of small islands can be highly vulnerable to climate change impacts, including sea-level rise (SLR). Many real cases of atoll or sandy islands involve two-layer hydrogeological conceptualizations. In this paper, the influential factors that affect FGLs in two-layer small islands subject to SLR are investigated. An analytical solution describing FGLs in circular islands, composed of two geological layers, is developed for the simplified case of steady-state and sharp-interface conditions. An application of the developed model is demonstrated to estimate the FGL thickness of some real-world islands by comparison with existing FGL thickness data. Furthermore,... 

The inherent complexities of multi-reservoir flood control systems and their operation conditions along with the improvements of optimization methods have led to a positive trend on better development of these models. This trend tends to provide the operators of these systems with more practical solutions. Although optimization models can provide appropriate solutions for operation of multi-reservoir systems, the exact implementation of these solutions in real world is not guaranteed. This arises mainly due to high level risk of flood situation, real time operation constraints, high level uncertainties of inflows that usually are overlooked in optimization models, and so on. These problems... 

Stepped spillways have been widely used in Roller Compacted Concrete (RCC) dams in the recent decades. Considering complexity of hydraulics of stepped chutes, their initial design involves pre-selection of some empirical formulae for calculation of flow characteristics and design parameters. In this paper, accuracy of several empirical formulae, proposed for calculating locations of aeration inception (LI), uniform flow (Lu) and rate of energy dissipation (ΔH/Hmax), were compared in relation to results of physical model tests of four stepped spillways and the preferred formulae, providing least amounts of relative errors, were identified. Such a feedback will be helpful for improvement of... 

Water resources limitation in arid and semi arid regions on one hand and water demand increase on the other, have made the optimum utilization of existing water resources and systems necessary. In this context, researchers are trying to increase the accuracy and lag time of prediction by using various statistic and empirical models as well as different local and long-range variables in the last decades. Karoon River is the greatest and most important river in Iran because of agricultural water demand supply and hydroelectric power production. Therefore streamflow prediction of this river has considerable economical and social benefits. In this study the relationship between Karoon stramflow... 

Flood control as an important purpose of reservoir systems faces a wide range of natural, social and political challenges, mainly due to different uncertainties. Over the time, these uncertainties call for necessary changes in the original plan of the systems. Therefore, construction of new flood control systems as well as the storage reallocation and reservoir reoperation of existing ones are essential for adapting the systems to new information, conditions and policies. Furthermore, multipurpose nature of the multi-reservoir systems requires considering conflicts among various purposes. In this paper, a multiobjective optimization model is developed for analyzing such conflicts in a... 

Water quality is one of the most important factors contributing to a healthy life. From the water quality management point of view, TDS (total dissolved solids) is the most important factor and many water developing plans have been implemented in recognition of this factor. However, these plans have not been perfect and very successful in overcoming the poor water quality problem, so there are a good volume of related studies in the literature. We study TDS and the water flow of the Karoun river in southwest Iran. We collected the necessary time series data from the Harmaleh station located in the river. We present two Univariate Seasonal Autoregressive Integrated Movement Average (ARIMA)... 

Azo dyes are common dye groups widely used in different industries. Industrial effluents which contain these dyes pervade water resources and have various known and unknown physiological effects on living organisms. In this study, methyl red (MR) was proposed as a model azo dye to examine the capability of Saccharomyces cerevisiae ATCC 9763 for cleavage of the azo bond leading to decolourization. The spectrophotometry method showed that complete decolourization occurred statically during ≃12 h and this time reduced to several minutes less than 10 min where cell mass increased. Thin layer chromatography (TLC), mass spectroscopy and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) confirmed degradation of... 

Relative permeability curves of two-phase flow in a fracture have been a subject of study in recent years. The importance of these curves have been widely observed in multidisciplines, such as water subsurface resources, geothermal energy and underground hydrocarbon resources, especially fractured oil and gas reservoirs. Extensive experimental studies have been cited alongside the numerical studies in this area. However, simple analytical and practical solutions are still attractive. In the current study, wettability effects and phase interference explicitly were tried to be implemented in a simple analytical formula. The wettability effects are represented by residual saturations which... 

In this study a review of the developed methods to estimate groundwater withdrawal (GWW) from aquifers by pumping wells is provided. Then, a method adopted by Iran's Basic Studies Bureau of Water Resources Management Company for estimation of GWW through 536 aquifers across Iran is presented and modified. This so-called “representative pumping wells network” (RPWN) approach is a combination of statistical and rate-and-time methods which has been implemented for all aquifers in Iran since 2007. The RPWN approach is based on the overlaying of 10 important features in a GIS environment and classified in a number of zones in which their withdrawals are statistically different. The representative... 

Evapotranspiration is one of the main components of water and energy balance. In this study, we compare two ET products, suitable for regional analysis at high spatial resolution: The recent WaPOR product developed by FAO and METRIC algorithm. WaPOR is based on ETLook, which is a two-source model and relies on microwave images. WaPOR is unique as it has no limitation under cloudy days, but METRIC is limited by clouds. METRIC and WaPOR are more sensitive to land surface temperature and soil moisture, respectively. Using two years (2010 and 2014) of data over Lake Urmia basin, we show that in most areas, ET from METRIC is higher than WaPOR and the difference has an ascending trend with the... 

In order to generate adequate electricity energy, conventional power plants utilize dramatic volume of water resources. Different methods such as replacing cutting-edge technologies of facilities have been proposed to diminish water consumption in this industry. Most of the approaches are considered as medium or long-term solution which requires substantial investment costs. Meanwhile, because of the process and technology, natural gas-fired power plants need less water among conventional power plants. Therefore, shifting unit commitment planning toward these power plants would aid to save water consumption. Nevertheless, overlooking combined cycle power plants can perform negative impact on... 

In Iran, due to arid and semi-arid climate, groundwater resources play an essential role in food production, as well as domestic and industrial water supply. In recent years, increasing population, scarcity of surface water resources, and effects of worldwide and regional climate change have resulted in over-exploitation and unsustainability of these resources in the country. The present study aims to estimate groundwater sustainable yield, examine effects of spatial and temporal scale, and propose a plan for groundwater sustainable use in Nishapur Plain, in the north-east of Iran. In investigating the effects of spatial scale, the area of the plain is divided into several zones, with... 

Lake Urmia in northwestern Iran is the largest lake in Iran and the second largest saltwater lake in the world. The water level in Lake Urmia has decreased dramatically in recent years, due to drought, climate change, and the overuse of water resources for irrigation. This shrinking of the lake may affect local climate conditions, assuming that the lake itself affects the local climate. In this study, we quantified the lake's impact on the local climate by analyzing hourly time series of data on climate variables (temperature, vapor pressure, relative humidity, evaporation, and dewpoint temperature for all seasons, and local lake/land breezes in summer) for the period 1961-2016. For this, we...