4/24/2016

DripIrrigationSystemBasicAspects:HeadLoss&VelocityinIrrigationPipes

Hiall,
Todayiamgoingtoexplainanimportantpartofthedripirrigationdesignwhichiscalled
HeadLossandVelocityinirrigationpipes.Forprovidingproperwatertotheeachplantof
thefieldwemusthavetoconsiderseveralthingsinmindlike,
1.Actualwaterrequirementofthefield
2.Availableflowofthepump
3.TotalHeadLossinthesystem&velocityinirrigationpipes
letsseetheminthebrief,
ActualWaterRequirementofthefield
Thefirststepofdripirrigationdesignistocalculatethetotalwaterrequiredbythearea.Sohowto
calculatethewaterrequirement?Letstakeanexample,
Supposewehave1.2haareaandwearegoingtogrowcottoncropinitatthespacingof1.40mX
0.40m.Wearegoingtouseinlinedrippercapacityof2LPH(litreperhour).
Sofirstthingishowmanyplantsaretherein1.2haarea?wecancalculateitsimplyby,
1.2X10,000=12000sq.meter
now,
=12000/1.40x0.4(Cropspacing)
=21429plantsinthefield
wearegoingtoprovide2litrewatertoeachplant,so
Totalwaterrequirement=21429x2(Totalplantsxdripperdischarge)
=42,858litreor42.85m3/hr.
so1.20haarerequired42.85m3/hr.watertoirrigatecottoncrop.
Availableflowofthepump
Intheaboveexamplewevepumpof10HPandwaterdepthisabout25m.sowhatistheavailable
flowofthepumpset?
wellwecancalculateitwiththedevicecalledwatermeterwhichisshownbelow,

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DripIrrigationSystemBasicAspects:HeadLoss&VelocityinIrrigationPipes

Therearemanytypesofwatermetersavailablenowadays.Youcancalculatethe
approximatepumpflowwiththefollowingformulaalso.
PumpDischarge=MotorHPX2.77XPumpefficiency
Head(m)
Youcangetdetailsoneverypartofthisformulainmypreviouspost

Sowehavepumpsetflowofabout36.93m3/hr.
wecanirrigatethefieldwithmaximumof36.93cubicmeterperhourofwater.
Tocarrytheseamountofwaterfromwatersourcetothefield,wehavetoconsiderseveral
thingslikeHeadLossinpipes,Velocityetc.
IndripirrigationsystemthetotalheadlossinMainlineshouldnotbemore
than5mand1.5minsubmainlines.Andmaximumpermissiblevelocityis2.0m/sec.
wecancalculateheadlossandvelocitywith"HazenWilliamsFormula

Where,
RoughnessconstantforPVCpipeis150
PipeID=(PipeODMinimumThicknessofPipe)Max.thicknessofPipe
TotalHeadLoss(m)=(Lengthofpipe(m)XPressuredrop)/100
Velocitycanbecalculatedby,

Aswehaveseenallthiscalculationisbitadifficulttodo.Soihavecreatedanexcelsheet
forcalculatingallthedataabove.
YoucandownloaditfromHERE(HydraulicCalculator)
itlookslike,
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DripIrrigationSystemBasicAspects:HeadLoss&VelocityinIrrigationPipes

Youhavetoselectpipesizeandpressureratingfromthelist,

thenentertherequiredflowoftheareaintheAvailableflowcell.Youcanentertheflowin
variousunitslikem3/hr.,LPM(litreperminute)orLPS(litrepersecond)selecttheunit
fromthedropdownlistaccordingly,

inthenextfieldenterthelengthofthepipeinmetre.Asyouenterthesevaluesitwillgives
TotalHeadloss,PressureDropandVelocityintherestofthefields.Iftheresultis
accordingtothecriteria(Headlossnotgreaterthan1.5insubmain&Velocitynotgreater
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DripIrrigationSystemBasicAspects:HeadLoss&VelocityinIrrigationPipes

than2.0)thefieldsareshowningreeniftheresultexceedthenitturnsred.Whichmeans
wehavetocreateashiftinirrigation.
Forexample,
Inthiscasewehavefieldrequirementof43m3/hr.andpipelengthofabout60msowhat
isheadloss?

wellitisabout6.58m,whichisgreaterthan1.5mofsoitturnsredsowhatwehavetodo
istoirrigatethefieldintwoshifts.Soavailableflowwillbe43/2=21.5&pipelengthwill
be60/2=30mforoneshift.

asyounoticeheadlossfieldturnsgreen.Butwhataboutvelocity?itstillred
wellitisredbecauseifyouaregoingtodesignadripirrigationsystemforalargearea
thentrytomaintainvelocitynotgreaterthan1.5m/secinsteadof2m/secofstandard
recommendations.forthiscaseignorethevelocityof1.5m/secasitislesserthan2.0
m/sec&ourareaissmall.
IfyouareusingHDPEPipesthenjustscrolldownthesheetyouwillfindhydraulic
calculatorforHDPEpipes,

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DripIrrigationSystemBasicAspects:HeadLoss&VelocityinIrrigationPipes

itisvelocitybasedcalculatorsojustenterrequiredflowandselectPipesizeandPressure
rating.
Asyouseealltheunitsareinmetricsystemofmeasurement.soifyouarefollowingunits
youhavetoconvertthevalues
dontpanicjustclickonthelastsheetnamedUnitConversionhereyoucanconvert
differentunits.

YoucanalsocalculatethePumpHPwiththepumphpcalculatorinthesheet,

Thereisastoragecapacitycalculatortab,soyoucancalculatethestoragecapacityof
watertankitrequired.

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DripIrrigationSystemBasicAspects:HeadLoss&VelocityinIrrigationPipes

Atlastasmallvideotutorialonheadloss&velocitycalculationinirrigationpipes,

Thatsallforhydrauliccalculationofirrigationpipes.
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DripIrrigationSystemBasicAspects:HeadLoss&VelocityinIrrigationPipes

Youcanfindmoreinformationondripirrigationsystemsdesignasunder,

1.Basicaspectsofdripirrigationsystemdesign
2.Technicalaspectsofdripirrigationsystemdesign
3.Dripirrigationsystemcomponentinstallation
4.Videotutorialondripirrigationsystemsdesign

Dontforgettoreplyifyouhaveanysuggestion
cheers!!
Thanks
PostedbyHardipGajjarat1:43PM
Labels:FrictionLoss,FrictionLossinirrigationpipes,HeadLoss

19comments:
faisalMalik February20,2013at2:02PM
gudwork...thnxforinformtion
Reply
Replies
FocusEngineerrs April18,2016at6:12PM
Yourpostwillbesousefultomothersandusdoulas,too,whoareaskedaboutpumpsall
thetime.
chemicaldosingsystem

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