Predicting the distribution of deposited sediment in Karaj reservoir using various improved harmony search algorithms

Dam construction on rivers can lead to sedimentation in reservoirs causing a lot of problems. Forecasting the amount and distribution of sedimentation is very important for the designers of the dam. The area reduction method is one of the experimental models to study the sedimentation in reservoirs. The parameters used in area reduction method have been obtained by Borland and Miller according to the study on 30 dams in America. It is necessary to obtain the optimal values of these parameters for the reservoir sedimentation in other areas. In this study, some models has been developed based on harmony search algorithm (HS) and its various improved algorithms such as IHS, GHS and SAHS in combination with area reduction methods for calculating optimal values of area reduction parameters. At first the accuracy of the developed models has been evaluated using standard functions and then Karaj reservoir sediment is estimated using developed model. Statistical comparisons of different improved methods and area reduction method with the actual sediment deposits in Karaj dam indicate high performance of developed models. Among these methods, the rate of error 90 percent has been reduced by combination of SAHS and HIS with area reduction method.