Graphical method for determining lateral and manifold pipe diameters in drip irrigation

Abstract

The main function of drip irrigation is to meet consumptive water use requirements of a crop within certain hydraulic and uniformity conditions. In this study, a graphical method was evaluated for determining lateral and manifold pipe diameters to obtain water distribution with an acceptable uniformity in drip irrigation. It was suggested that pipe diameters should be selected when Christiansen's uniformity coefficient, C u , was equal to or greater than 98 and 97.5% for lateral and manifold pipelines, respectively. Design charts for which uniformity coefficients could be directly found were prepared for commonly used lateral and manifold pipe diameters.

Simplified procedure for hydraulic design of small‐diameter plastic pipes

“…However, designers are often faced with the problem of selecting the economic pipe size and length for a given desired level of water application uniformity and given uniform pipe slope so as to maintain he correct operating inlet pressure head, allowable pressure head variation, and total or friction losses along the pipeline. In the literature, only a limited number of studies Kang and Nishiyama, 1996;Hathoot et al, 1993Hathoot et al, , 2000Ravikumar et al, 2003;Apaydın and Yıldırım, 2005;Yıldırım, 2006) deal with the direct hydraulic design procedure of multi-outlet plastic pipes in micro-irrigation systems.…”