'Weir Optimisation Tool' wins best poster!

Tim Morrison (right) winning best poster at the Floodplain Management Australia National Conference with his ‘Weir Optimisation Tool’.

A ‘Weir Optimisation Tool’ that automatically optimises the position of weirs along a river reach to generate the greatest pool volume for the minimum number of weirs, has won best poster at the 2022 Floodplain Management Australia Conference in Toowoomba, QLD. The annual conference aims to promote wise floodplain development and help reduce the risks of flooding to life and property.

Presented by Tim Morrison from Catchment Simulation Solutions, the python-based, optimisation tool has been developed through a collaboration between CSS and TMI to maximise the benefits of weirs while minimising the cost of their construction.

Tim is an accomplished flood engineer who has been working with the Mulloon Institute to prepare hydrological modelling and planning for the Molonglo Catchment Rehydration Initiative. He and his team provide ongoing advice and support to the Mulloon Institute, including designing the weir optimisation tool. 

Weir here to help!

The optimiser starts with a set number of weirs and intelligently shuffles these around until the total volume is no longer increasing. It is typically run a significant number (e.g. 100) times for a given number of weirs and the top results analysed to determine how similar they are, and if there are common locations. It then progressively reduces the number of weirs used to see if an optimal, or close to optimal, result can be achieved more efficiently. The tool will make a real contribution to the design of catchment scale landscape rehydration projects across Australia. 

We congratulate Tim and the CSS team for the poster win and look forward to putting the weir optimisation tool to work as we roll out the National Rehydration Initiative across Australia.