Abstract: | The recent versions of nonlinear programming techniques such as the conjugate gradient and the gradient projection algorithms are used to obtain the optimal operating conditions of a multiple reservoirs system with multiple purposes. These algorithms are compared with other techniques in the literature. The conjugate gradient method incorporates the advantages of both the generalized Newton-Raphson, also known as the quasilinearization technique, and the gradient approach while avoiding their major drawbacks. To illustrate the technique, a water resources system with three reservoirs and a tabular objective function is solved by the two algorithms. |