Estimation of reservoir flood control operation risks with considering inflow forecasting errors

A method for quantifying inflow forecasting errors and their impact on reservoir flood control operations is proposed. This approach requires the identification of the probability distributions and uncertainty transfer scheme for the inflow forecasting errors. Accordingly, the probability distributions of the errors are inferred through deducing the relationship between its standard deviation and the forecasting accuracy quantified by the Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency coefficient. The traditional deterministic flood routing process is treated as a diffusion stochastic process. The diffusion coefficient is related to the forecasting accuracy, through which the forecasting errors are indirectly related to the sources of reservoir operation risks. The associated risks are derived by solving the stochastic differential equation of reservoir flood routing via the forward Euler method. The Geheyan reservoir in China is selected as a case study. The hydrological forecasting model for this basin is established and verified. The flood control operation risks in the forecast-based pre-release operation mode for different forecasting accuracies are estimated by the proposed approach. Application results show that the proposed method can provide a useful tool for reservoir operation risk estimation and management.