Method 5 operates much like Method 4 except that an optimization scheme is used to obtain the target difference in water surface elevation between natural and encroached conditions. A maximum of 20 trials is allowed in attempting a solution. Equal conveyance reduction is attempted in each overbank, unless this is not possible (i.e., the encroachment goes all the way into the bank station before the target is met). The input data for method 5 consists of a target water surface increase and a target energy increase. The program objective is to match the target water surface without exceeding the target energy. If this is not possible, the program will then try to find the encroachments that match the target energy. If no target energy is entered, the program will keep encroaching until the water surface target is met. If only a target energy is entered, the program will keep encroaching until the target energy is met. If neither of the criteria is met after 20 trials, the program will take the best answer from all the trials and use it as the final result. The target water surface and energy can be changed at any cross section, like Methods 1 through 4. An example of method 5 is shown in the figure below.
