Hydraulic Analysis and Optimum Design of Multidiameter Irrigation Laterals

Abstract

A new analytical continuous-uniform outflow approach that takes into account the effect of the number of outlets on the multidiameter lateral hydraulics is presented. The pressure head profile along the multidiameter pipeline is described by a simple analytical function providing direct calculation of the outlet pressure head along the pipeline. The method is significantly improved by introducing an adjusted spatially variable outflow equation—of power function form—for the errors caused by the assumption of equal outlet discharge. The effect of ground slope on hydraulic computation is also considered. Simple equations are derived for the direct calculation of the maximum, minimum, and inlet pressure head along the multidiameter pipeline. The optimum design problem for two-diameter laterals is also solved analytically. For specified total length of a two-diameter pipeline, a simple algebraic equation is derived to calculate directly the appropriate lengths of the reaches of different diameters in such a way that the total cost of the pipeline is minimized. Comparison tests with an accurate numerical stepwise method indicate that the proposed analytical approach is sufficiently accurate.