In this study, a Hydrologic Simulation Model (HYSIM) is applied to the Rushikuliya river basin in Orissa to model the daily flows of the river at Purushottampur. The model used in the study is a menu-driven PC based version and contains modes both for optimization and production runs.
The model can use five types of input data namely, precipitation, potential evapotranspiration (PET), potential snowmelt rate, discharge to (or abstractions from) river channels and abstraction from groundwater. In addition, it can use a gauge flow record for comparison with the simulated flow. The model can use the input data and simulate the flows either on monthly, daily or on shorter term increments including hourly flows.
HYSIM has the capability to model the natural inhomogenity of a catchment by sub-dividing the catchment into as many sub-catchments with respect to soil type and meteorology. In such a case, the flows from upstream catchments are routed through the catchment being modeled along with flows from local runoff. For this purpose, either the recorded flows from upstream catchment are used or this is simulated separately for each of the upstream sub-catchments.
The river Rushikuliya having a drainage area of about 8200 sqkm is one of the medium sized east flowing rivers in the State of Orissa. The modeling of flows from the basin is carried out for a drainage area of 7112 sqkm at Purushottampur Gauge Discharge (GD) site. The entire drainage area up to the site has been considered as a single unit for applying the model.
The model is calibrated using three years data of rainfall, PET and gauged flow record. The model validation is performed by simulating flows for three different data sets.
The results of the study show that the model has simulated the flow hydrographs to a fair degree of accuracy despite some shortcomings in the input data. Based on the results, it is concluded that the model can be effectively used for simulation studies of Rushikuliya basin and its sub-basins.
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