Bita Moravejalahkami, Behrouz Mostafazadeh-Fard, Manouchehr Heidarpour, Saeed Eslamian, Jaber Roohi,
Volume 17, Issue 64 (summer 2013)
Abstract
Most furrow irrigation systems have low performance due to deep percolation at the upstream end and tailwater runoff at the downstream end of the field. To eliminate this problem improving furrow irrigation performance is necessary. Since the inflow discharge has high effect on infiltration along the furrow which consequently affects the application efficiency and water distribution uniformity, it would be important to apply different furrow inflow hydrograph shapes based on the field data such as field slope, soil texture and furrow length to save water. To produce different furrow inflow hydrograph shapes, an automatic valve which was connected to a stepper motor was designed to change the inflow discharge with time according to the desired inflow hydrograph shape. The experimental field was located at Isfahan University of Technology. A constant head water delivery system to the furrows including the automatic valve was installed in the experimental field and the tests were conducted for different inflow hydrograph shapes. The comparison of the measured furrow inflow discharges with the simulated furrow inflow discharges produced by the automatic valve showed that the automatic valve can produce different furrow inflow hydrograph shapes with high accuracy.
