Minimizing Capital Costs of Multi‐outlet Pipelines

Abstract

A design procedure is presented for minimizing the capital cost of multiple‐outlet pipelines which are composed of more than one diameter. The procedure assumes uniform slope, equal outlet spacing, and equal outlet discharge over a specified range of pressure heads. The optimization technique suggested is the Lagrange Multipliers method using the Newton Raphson method to solve a system of nonlinear equations. The procedure is applicable both to laterals for sprinkler or trickle irrigation systems and to manifold lines (feeder pipes) for a group of laterals.