A SIMPLE ELECTRONIC DEVICE FOR MEASURING ADVANCE TIME AND WATER HEIGHT IN FURROW IRRIGATION SYSTEM

Guirguis, A. E.; Zayton, A. M.; Hemeda, S. G.

doi:10.21608/mjae.2013.99893

A SIMPLE ELECTRONIC DEVICE FOR MEASURING ADVANCE TIME AND WATER HEIGHT IN FURROW IRRIGATION SYSTEM

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ Sen. Res., Ag. Eng. Res. Inst., Ag. Res. Center, Dokki, Giza, Egypt.

² Researcher, Ag. Eng. Res. Inst., Ag. Res. Center, Dokki, Giza, Egypt.

10.21608/mjae.2013.99893

Abstract

A simple electronic device was designed and created instead of traditional method for measuring advance, recession times and water heights inside and along furrows to be more convenient with an optimization method based on the volume balance approach, originally developed for estimating infiltration parameters for furrow irrigation. Field experiments were conducted at a sugar crops research station- Alexandria, where sugar beet was grown in clay soils to test the accuracy of the developed device work in measurements. The furrow irrigation inflow rates were 1.14, 1.42 and 2.25 (l/s). Measurement parameters included furrow geometry, slope, width, length, advance and recession times, and furrow water heights through irrigation event for each inflow rate. A volume balance method was applied to simulate water flow in the furrow system. The results obtained from the used device were compared with the field collected data by traditional method. The results showed that total advance times (t_L) were 56.0, 42.4, and 30.5 min, while, total recession times (t_R) were 70.0, 53.4, and 46.0 min, for each inflow rate, respectively. The recession time increased as inflow rate decreased; this revealed to water infiltrated into soil takes more time to disappear. Water infiltrated volume increased when inflow rate was decreased due to slow water movement along the furrow. Maximum calculated values of the infiltrated volumes (V_cal) were 0.515, 0.424, and 0.346 (m³/furrow length) while, minimum values were 0.353, 0.299, and 0.271 (m³/furrow length), by applying 1.14, 1.42 and 2.25 (l/s) inflow rates, respectively. The verification results between measured and calculated data showed that, the data for all the irrigation events with the optimization method using modified Kostiakov equation, fall very close to the 45^о line degree with deviate a little. This means, that the used electronic device is expected to be superior for estimating infiltration characteristics and evaluating furrow irrigation system with high accuracy.

Main Subjects

Agricultural Irrigation and Drainage Engineering

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