Determining water surface elevation in tidal rivers by ANN

Abstract

Fluvial flows and tidal flows are governing on tidal rivers while fluvial flows are governing on non-tidal rivers alone. In addition to analytical and numerical models, stochastic methods must be considered to determine water surface elevation at the tidal limit of tidal rivers because hydraulic routing of this reach is very complex. In the present research, the neural network method was considered for determination of water surface elevation at the tidal limit of tidal rivers. The artificial neural network (ANN) method was trained using results from a suitable numerical model. The results of the ANN method were compared with results for the governing regression relation for water surface elevation at the tidal limit of tidal rivers. The ANN method was applied to the Karun river in Iran and the River Severn in the UK. The ANN method was found to produce water surface elevations for different combined return periods in the Karun river and the River Severn.