Modeling Water Distribution for Irrigation Machine with Small Spray Nozzles
Publication: Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering
Volume 127, Issue 3
Abstract
A model and computer program were developed to calculate water application depth and uniformity coefficient for small spray nozzles mounted on a center-pivot irrigation system. The program requires two basic inputs. First, the experimental data for the static distribution pattern of the spray nozzle, including collection time, spacing between collection cups, cup opening radius, and volume of water collected in each cup at a specific pressure and height are required. Second, irrigation system inputs including spacing between spray nozzles, radius of distal end tower and moving velocity, distance of spray nozzle from the pivot, move stop cycle time, or cycle time, and percentage of moving time from the cycle time, or percentage of moving time are needed. The outputs are water application depth and uniformity coefficient. Experiments were conducted to validate the simulation for various moving velocities, spacing between spray nozzles, cycle times, and percentages of moving time. Results showed that the uniformity coefficient of water distribution was 98.4% of the predicted coefficient and that by changing cycle time, or percentage of moving time, the uniformity coefficient was improved by as much as 14.2%.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
1.
American Society of Agricultural Engineers (ASAE). ( 1997a). ASAE standards, 44th Ed., S436.1, St. Joseph, Mich.
2.
American Society of Agricultural Engineers (ASAE). ( 1997b). ASAE standards, 44th Ed., S398.1, St. Joseph, Mich.
3.
Camp, C. R., and Sadler, E. J. ( 1994). “Center pivot irrigation system for site-specific water and nutrient management.” ASAE Paper No. 94-1586, American Society of Agricultural Engineers (ASAE). St. Joseph, Mich.
4.
Fraisse, C. W., Heerman, D. F., and Duke, H. R. ( 1995). “Simulation of variable water application with linear-move irrigation system.” Trans. ASAE, 38(5), 1371–1376.
5.
Howell, T. A., and Phene, C. J. ( 1983). “Distribution of irrigation water from a low pressure, lateral-moving irrigation system.” Trans. ASAE, 26(4), 1422–1434.
6.
Irrig. J., 46(1), 24–39.
7.
Lyle, W. M., and Bordovsky, J. P. ( 1981). “Low energy precision application (LEPA) irrigation system.” Trans. ASAE, 24(5), 1241–1245.
8.
Lyle, W. M., and Bordovsky, J. P. ( 1983). “LEPA irrigation system evaluation.” Trans. ASAE, 26(3), 776–781.
9.
Omary, M., Camp, C. R., and Sadler, E. J. ( 1997). “Center pivot irrigation system modification to provide variable water application depths.” Appl. Engrg. in Agric., 13(2), 235–239.
10.
Stark, J. C., McCann, I. R., King, B. A., and Westermann, D. T. ( 1993). “A two-dimensional irrigation control system for site-specific application of water and chemicals.” Agronomy Abstract, 85, 329.
11.
Sumner, H. R. ( 1997). “Tractor-mounted irrigation system simulator for chemigation research.” Appl. Engrg. in Agric., 14(4), 491–494.
12.
Thooyamani, K. P., Norum, D. I., and Dubetz, S. ( 1987). “Application rates and uniformity under center-pivot sprinkler irrigation systems using spray nozzles.” Can. Agric. Engrg., 29(2), 149–154.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering
Volume 127 • Issue 3 • June 2001
Pages: 156 - 160
History
Received: Apr 28, 2000
Published online: Jun 1, 2001
Published in print: Jun 2001
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.