Numerical simulation of spray drift and deposition from a crop spraying aircraft using a CFD approach

Zhang, Bin; Tang, Qing; Chen, Liping; Zhang, Ruirui; Xu, Min

doi:10.1016/j.biosystemseng.2017.11.017

Cited by 40 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…This conclusion is very useful for reducing drift in terms of controlling the trajectory of the droplets. However, previous studies on the influence of the aircraft flow field on drift are mostly focused on fixed-wing aircraft [39]. Compared with the wind tunnel test, the field test using the UAV as the pesticide spraying equipment not only gets rid of the space restriction but also the field environment is in line with the actual work scene, so the research results are more authentic.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Drift Evaluation of a Quadrotor Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Sprayer: Effect of Liquid Pressure and Wind Speed on Drift Potential Based on Wind Tunnel Test

et al. 2021

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Background: Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) applied to agricultural plant protection is widely used, and the field of operation is expanding due to their high efficiency and pesticide application reduction. However, the work on pesticide drift lags behind the development of the UAV spraying device. Methods: We compared the spray drift potential at four liquid pressures of 2, 3, 4, and 5 bar ejected from the hydraulic nozzles mounted on a UAV test platform exposed to different wind speeds of 2, 4, and 6 m/s produced by a wind tunnel. The combination of the wind tunnel and the UAV test platform was used to obtain strict test conditions. The droplet size distribution under spray drift pressures was measured by a laser diffraction instrument. Results: Increasing the pressure leads to smaller droplet volume diameters and produced fine droplets of less than 100 µm. The deposition in the drift area was elevated at most of the sampling locations by setting higher pressure and faster wind speed. The deposition ratios were all higher than the flow ratios under three wind speeds after the adjustment of pressures. For most samples within a short drift distance (2–8 m), the drift with the rotor motor off was more than an order of magnitude higher than that with the rotor motor on at a pressure of 3 bar. Conclusions: In this study, the wind speed and liquid pressure all had a significant effect on the UAV spray drift, and the rotor wind significantly inhibited a large number of droplets from drifting further.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Drift Evaluation of a Quadrotor Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Sprayer: Effect of Liquid Pressure and Wind Speed on Drift Potential Based on Wind Tunnel Test

et al. 2021

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“…Drift is one of the main reasons for product losses and consequent environmental contamination [3]. Spray drift is the amount of product that did not reach the target during spray application [4].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Factors affecting aerial spray drift in the Brazilian Cerrado

Baio

Antuniassi²,

Castilho

et al. 2019

PLoS ONE

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Pesticides aerial application may results in the drift to neighboring areas if some application technology is not well executed. This phenomenon should be minimized to reduce environmental risks and agricultural production costs. This work aimed to investigate the interaction of environmental conditions, surrounding distance, and application conditions influencing spray drift in aerial applications. Sampling data from aerial sprays were collected during three agricultural years (from 2012 to 2014) in fields cultivated with sorghum, millet, soybean, corn, and cotton. The following variables were evaluated: application swath width, application rate, distance from the applied field, wind speed, relative humidity, and temperature. The estimated Pearson’s correlations and path analysis identified that application rate and distance from the applied field and application were the variables that most influenced drift. Equations relating spray drift in function of distance from the applied field and application rate were adjusted in function of the variable, and a response surface model was constructed to estimate drift. The major pesticide class sprayed with aircraft in the Brazilian Cerrado was insecticide, followed by fungicide. This scenario shows the potential hazard risk of spray drift over the environment. The concentration of the drift deposits decreased as surrounding distance and application rate were increased. A mathematical equation of drift prediction was established, where the variables that contributed most to drift deposits were surrounding distance and wind speed. Thus, it is very important to monitor and respect the wind speed limits during the aerial spraying, mainly when there is any risk potential associated with pesticide exposure over the downwind direction.

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“…The experiment was repeated three times, and the average values were recorded. After testing, the spray working area was measured, and the dosage per unit area was calculated according to Equation (8).…”

Section: ( ) ( )mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Consequently, air-assisted spraying has been widely used in orchard plant protection. In recent years, scholars have applied computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to the study of air-assisted spraying [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17] . Dekeyser et al [18] used CFD simulation and experimental verification methods to study the parameters of nozzles, droplet size distribution, and wind field airflow on three commercially available air-assisted sprayers with different air-feeding devices.…”

Section: Introduction 1mentioning

confidence: 99%

CFD simulation and experiment on the flow field of air-assisted ultra-low-volume sprayers in facilities

Gong

Liu

et al. 2021

International Journal of Agricultural and Biological Engineering

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In order to explore the performance of the B-ULV-616A knapsack sprayer, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) was used to simulate the B-ULV-616A knapsack air-assisted device, which features an ultra-low-volume electric sprayer. Field experiments were carried out to test the spraying effects, and the KANOMAX anemometer was used to verify the simulated results. First, the internal and external flow fields and droplet deposition distribution of the ultra-low-volume sprayer were established. The results showed that the air-assisted spray device can change the airflow speed and direction and produce a high-speed swirling airflow at the outlet of the air-assisted spray device. The high-speed airflow (maximum of 83.5 m/s) generates negative pressure (minimum of 0.099 MPa) and causes a rapid increase in the droplet velocity and a secondary droplets spray, allowing droplets to reach a longer distance. Then, the maximum relative error was 20.14%, and its average value was 9.59%, indicating that the CFD method is suitable for the flow field analysis of the air-assisted spray device. Finally, based on the greenhouse experiment, the knapsack air-assisted ultra-low-volume electric sprayer was found to effectively improve the deposition on the rear of the crop, increase the droplet density (maximum of 81/cm 2 ; droplet density of conventional electric sprayer is 64/cm 2 ), and reduce the deposition amount and coefficient of variation (below 20%) within and between regions. Further, it managed to reduce pesticide use (by 69.85%) and rural non-point source pollution.

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Numerical simulation of spray drift and deposition from a crop spraying aircraft using a CFD approach

Cited by 40 publications

References 36 publications

Drift Evaluation of a Quadrotor Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Sprayer: Effect of Liquid Pressure and Wind Speed on Drift Potential Based on Wind Tunnel Test

Drift Evaluation of a Quadrotor Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Sprayer: Effect of Liquid Pressure and Wind Speed on Drift Potential Based on Wind Tunnel Test

Factors affecting aerial spray drift in the Brazilian Cerrado

CFD simulation and experiment on the flow field of air-assisted ultra-low-volume sprayers in facilities

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