Simplified Procedure to Evaluate Head Losses in Drip Irrigation Laterals
Publication: Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering
Volume 131, Issue 6
Abstract
The lateral lines of a drip irrigation system consist of pressurized pipelines with inline or online emitters. Proper hydraulic design of drip laterals usually requires the accurate evaluation of the total head losses, represented by friction losses along the pipe and the emitters, and local losses due to the emitter connections. This paper extends the local loss evaluation procedure, previously obtained for coextruded laterals, on the basis of new experiments. In addition, a simplified procedure was proposed based on the constant outlet discharge assumption for a quick evaluation of total head losses in drip irrigation lines, taking into account the total local loss due to the emitter connections. Total head loss values measured on 15 commercially available coextruded laterals were then compared with those obtained by using the nowly proposed methodology. Relative errors on the pressure head estimation for the examined cases were always 2.4%, and therefore the proposed methodology could serve for a quick, approximate evaluation of the total head losses along the laterals.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The writers wish to thank Mr. Mario Fazio and Mr. Cosimo Vivona, technicians at the laboratory of hydrology, for their support during the preparation of the experimental setup, as well as to Dr. Manlio Gruttadauria of Imago Italia for providing some of the coextruded laterals tested in the experiments. Sincere thanks also go to the anonymous referees who, with their useful suggestions, helped to improve the quality of the manuscript. The research was supported by a joint grant from the Università degli Studi di Palermo and Ministero dell’Università e della Ricerca (PRIN). The writers equally set up the research, analyzed the results, and revised the text. The report was drawn up by Giuseppe Provenzano.
References
Al-Amoud, A. I. (1995). “Significance of energy losses due to emitter connections in trickle irrigation lines.” J. Agric. Eng. Res., 60(1), 1–5.
Bagarello, V., and Pumo, D. (1992). “Lateral line hydraulics in drip irrigation systems.” Proc., 16th Int. Commission on Irrigation and Drainage European Regional Conf., Budapest, Hungary, International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage, New Delhi, India.
Bagarello, V., Ferro, V., Provenzano, G., and Pumo, D. (1995). “Experimental study on flow resistance law for small diameter plastic pipes.” J. Irrig. Drain. Eng., 121(5), 313–316.
Bagarello, V., Ferro, V., Provenzano, G., and Pumo, D. (1997). “Evaluating pressure losses in drip-irrigation lines.” J. Irrig. Drain. Eng., 123(1), 1–7.
Christiansen, J. E. (1942). “Irrigation by sprinkling.” California Agricultural Experimental Station Bull. No. 670, Univ. of California at Davis, Davis, Calif.
De Marchi, G. (1954). Idraulica: Basi Scientifiche e applicazioni tecniche, U. Hoepli, ed., Milano, Italy (in Italian).
Jeppson, R. W. (1982). Analysis of flow in pipe networks, 5th Ed., Ann Arbor Science, Ann Arbor. Mich.
Juana, L., Rodriguez-Sinobas, L., and Losada, A. (2002). “Determining minor head losses in drip irrigation laterals. I: Methodology.” J. Irrig. Drain. Eng., 128(6), 376–384.
Kang, Y., Nishiyama, S., and Chen, H. (1996). “Design of microirrigation laterals on nonuniform slopes.” Irrig. Sci., 17, 3–14.
Keller, J., and Karmeli, D. (1974). “Trickle irrigation design parameters.” Trans. ASAE, 7, 678–684.
Nakayama, F. S., and Bucks, D. A. (1986). Trickle irrigation for crop production, Elsevier Science, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Provenzano, G., and Pumo, D. (2004). “Experimental analysis of local pressure losses for microirrigation laterals.” J. Irrig. Drain. Eng., 130(4), 318–324.
Provenzano, G., Pumo, D., and Di Dio, P. (2003). “Valutazione delle perdite di carico nelle linee gocciolanti integrali.” Riv. Ing. Agraria, 4, 55–62 (in Italian).
Valiantzas, J. D. (1998). “Analytical approach for direct drip lateral hydraulic calculation.” J. Irrig. Drain. Eng., 124(6), 300–305.
Valiantzas, J. D. (2002). “Continuous outflow variation along drip irrigation laterals: Effect of number of outlets.” J. Irrig. Drain. Eng., 128(1), 34–42.
Valiantzas, J. D. (2003). “Explicit hydraulic design of microirrigation submain units with tapered manifold and laterals.” J. Irrig. Drain. Eng., 129(4), 227–236.
Vallesquino, P., and Luque-Escamilla, P. L. (2001). “New algorithm for hydraulic calculation in irrigation laterals.” J. Irrig. Drain. Eng., 127(4), 254–260.
Vallesquino, P., and Luque-Escamilla, P. L. (2002). “Equivalent friction factor method for hydraulic calculation in irrigation laterals.” J. Irrig. Drain. Eng., 128(5), 278–286.
Wu, I. P. (1992). “Energy gradient line for direct hydraulic calculation in drip irrigation design.” Irrig. Sci., 13, 21–29.
Wu, I. P. (1997). “An assessment of hydraulic design of micro-irrigation systems.” Agric. Water Manage., 32, 275–284.
Zayani, K., Alouini, A., Lebdi, F., and Lamaddalena, N. (2001). “Design of drip irrigation systems using the energy drop ratio approach.” Trans. ASAE, 44(5), 1127–1133.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering
Volume 131 • Issue 6 • December 2005
Pages: 525 - 532
Copyright
© 2005 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Feb 2, 2004
Accepted: Dec 28, 2004
Published online: Dec 1, 2005
Published in print: Dec 2005
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.