Enhancement of the Hooghoudt Drain-Spacing Equation
Publication: Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering
Volume 141, Issue 6
Abstract
The Hooghoudt equation is widely used as a simple means of specifying drain spacing when designing networks of parallel drains in drainage systems, based on estimating the maximum water table height between two drains. It is shown via comparison with a numerical model that the Hooghoudt equation can overestimate water table height and therefore yield drain spacings that may be too wide. This is because the Hooghoudt drain-spacing equation in fact has a concealed dependency on Van Genuchten soil-water retention curve parameters, which can bias the water table estimates unless adjustments are made explicitly. A modification of the Hooghoudt equation is presented that incorporates two new dimensionless coefficients to make allowance for this dependency. The modified expression yields improved accuracy as measured against the numerical reference model.
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Acknowledgments
The authors would like to acknowledge the reviewers, whose inputs improved the final manuscript.
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Published In
Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering
Volume 141 • Issue 6 • June 2015
Copyright
© 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Feb 26, 2014
Accepted: Sep 26, 2014
Published online: Oct 28, 2014
Discussion open until: Mar 28, 2015
Published in print: Jun 1, 2015
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