Automatic Calibration Module for an Urban Drainage System Model

The purpose of the study was to present an automated module for the calibration of urban drainage system models. A prepared tool based on the Open Water Analytics toolkit included 12 additional calibration parameters as compared to the existing similar solutions. The module included a gradient optimization method that allowed adjustment of up to five parameters simultaneously, and a trial-and-error method that provided the possibility of testing one or two parameters. The user interface was built in MS Excel to simplify use of the developed tool. The user can select preferable parameters for calibration, choose the optimization method, and determine the limits for the calculated values. The performance and functionality of the automatic calibration module was tested in two scenarios using the drainage model of a 10 ha heavily developed area in Tallinn, Estonia. The calibration results revealed that the maximum deviation between the modelled and measured flow rates was less than 5% for both cases. This is a reasonably good fit for drainage models, which typically encounter numerous uncertainties. Therefore, it was concluded that the module can be successfully used for calibrating hydraulic models created in SWMM5.

Automated summary

The study introduced an automated module for calibrating urban drainage system models with 12 additional calibration parameters compared to existing solutions. The module included gradient optimization and trial-and-error methods for adjusting parameters simultaneously. The user interface built in MS Excel allows users to select preferred parameters, optimization methods, and value limits for calibration. Testing in two scenarios showed that the module provides a reasonably good fit for hydraulic models with low deviation between modeled and measured flow rates.