GUWAHATI, March 4 � A mathematical model of the Brahmaputra is in the making. Prof Arup Kumar Sarma, BP Chaliha Chair for Water Resources of the Civil Engineering Department of IIT-Guwahati, has developed the model with his research team. The model is named the BRAHMA (Braided River Aid: Hydrodynamic and Morphological Analyser). The model, the first of its kind in India, can be applied on any river, including the braided ones.
The BP Chaliha Chair is sponsored by the Union Ministry of Water Resources with an objective to work for water management of the Brahmaputra Basin taking into consideration the phenomenon of climate change.
Presenting the salient features of the model at a stakeholders� workshop on the project, Professor Sarma said that the hydrodynamic component of the model has been completed and a critical review is going on on its morphological component.
Some of the special features of this model, which distinguish it from the existing models, are its capability of coupling with optimisation model and provision of simulating channel flow passing through the infiltration zone.
Explaining the modelling need, he said understanding the river behaviour for a dynamic river like the Brahmaputra is extremely important. The phenomenon of climate change is also taken into consideration while preparing the model.
It has been found that though the total rainfall will remain almost the same, the rainfall intensity will go up in the rainy season, while the dry season will become longer and monsoon will also arrive late in this part of the globe under the impact of climate change, he said, adding, there is a need to review the flood designs.
On the advantage of having an indigenous model, he said one can couple this model with other models like the optimisation model and infiltration model. One can apply this with more confidence as internal processes like assumption involved in the computation and simplification of the riverbed shape representation, etc, are known to the modeller, said Prof Sarma.
Speaking as the chief guest on the occasion, Prof VP Singh, who holds the Caroline and William N Lehrer Distinguished Chair in Water Engineering and is a Professor of Biological and Agricultural Engineering and a Professor Civil and Environmental Engineering at Texas A&M University, appreciated the initiative and congratulated the IIT-Guwahati for developing the model.
He underscored the need of incorporating the ecological and human aspects into the model.
