ABSTRACT:The objective of this study was to characterize water application rate, water application pattern width, flow rate, water distribution uniformity and soil loss caused by nozzles of the Low Energy Precision Aplication (LEPA) type Quad-Spray emitter. The study was carried out at the Hydraulic and Irrigation Laboratory of the Department of Engineering at the Federal University of Lavras, in Lavras, state of Minas Gerais -MG, Brazil. Twenty-two (22) LEPA QuadSpray emitter nozzles were evaluated, with nozzle diameter ranging from 1.59 to 9.92 mm. The experimental design used was entirely randomized, with three replications. Increasing values of nozzle flow rate ranging from 77.44 up to 3,044 L h -1 , were obtained with increasing nozzle diameter sizes. Application pattern width ranged from 0.56 up to 3.24m, according to nozzles diameter size. Low values of CDU (maximum of 35.73%) were observed when using the QuadSpray nozzles. Observed average water application rates covered the range between 68.05 mm h -1 (the lowest value that was obtained with the 2.38mm nozzle) and 258.15 mm h -1 (the highest value that was observed with the 9.92 mm). Average water application rates increased in a simple nonlinear function with the increase of nozzle size diameter. However, the weighted average increase in the amount of soil loss by erosion was not related to the increase of weighted average water application values.KEYWORDS: technical characteristics of the Quad-Spray, resizing of nozzles, erosive impact.
CARACTERÍSTICAS DE DISTRIBUIÇÃO DE ÁGUA E PERDAS DE SOLO DE BOCAIS DO EMISSOR QUAD-SPRAY TIPO LEPARESUMO: Foi objetivo deste trabalho caracterizar a taxa de aplicação de água, largura do padrão molhado, vazão, uniformidade de distribuição de água e perdas de solo de bocais do emissor QuadSpray tipo Low Energy Precision Aplication (LEPA). O trabalho foi realizado no