Author(s)

B. Mostafazadeh-Fard & Y. Osroosh

Abstract

Surface irrigation is one of the most common methods of irrigation in which its hydraulic behaviour is influenced by the inflow hydrograph. The use of electronic devices in surface irrigation to manage water delivery to the field is important because the water losses can be decreased which results in higher application efficiency. Previous studies have shown that the efficiency of surface irrigation is influenced by the inflow hydrograph shape. In this study, an electronic device has being designed and constructed that is able to regulate the irrigation pump outflow to produce different furrow or border inflow hydrographs including constant inflow, cut-back inflow, gradual reducing inflow, modified cut-back inflow, modified gradual reducing inflow and surge inflow for actual field conditions. The device is controlled by computer and can be programmed for actual field conditions data for any desired inflow rate, inflow variations and irrigation time in order to increase water application efficiency. Based on information given, the device can control deep percolation along the field and runoff at the lower end. The system can also be programmed to account for infiltration characteristics changes along the irrigation season to reduce losses. Keywords: surface irrigation, inflow hydrograph, automation. 1 Introduction Surface irrigation is one of the oldest methods of irrigation in which soil surface is used to convey and infiltrate water [8]. This method of irrigation as compared with sprinkler or trickle methods is inexpensive. Therefore, more attention is being paid to improve the efficiency of surface irrigation. For instance runoff

Keywords

surface irrigation, inflow hydrograph, automation.