Source Inversion of a Sudden Pollution Accident Occurred in Plain River Network Based on Pattern Search Method

The identification of pollution sources is the foundation of sudden pollution accident warning and emergency rescue work. This paper builds a general method of determining the source of a sudden pollution accident occurred in plain river network by combining pattern search method with one-dimensional hydrodynamic and water quality model. The calculated concentration values obtained from the water quality model are compared with the corresponding monitoring values, and the fitness of them is treated as an objective function. This objective function is iteratively optimized with the pattern search method until a given tolerance has achieved. Finally, assesses the method with an actual pollution event. The results show that this general method of determining the source of a sudden pollution accident occurred in plain river network is feasible, and can provide theoretical supports for emergency rescue work and legal liability investigation once similar accidents happened in plain river network.