Automatic Calibration Of Currents In ShallowWater Flow Models

Abstract

Shallow water flow models are an important tool for forecasting storm surges and predicting the effects of human interventions in estuaries. The accuracy of shallow water flow models is mainly determined by the accuracy of its inputs, such as depth, friction coefficient and the tide at the so called open boundary. In order to obtain accurate model results, the model has to be calibrated, which means that the model input is adapted so that the model results fit the available measurements more closely. For this purpose an automatic calibration method, based on the adjoint method, has been developed to estimate the uncertain parameters in an efficient way. The parameters are adapted in a way to increase the similarity between the measured waterlevels and the computed waterlevels. Recently the shallow water flow models are being used increasingly to provide the input for pollutant and sediment transport models. This change in use has resulted in a demand for more accurate current predictions. For this purpose, the calibration method has been extended to improve the current predictions of the shallow water flow models.