Physically Based Model for Simulating Flow in Furrow Irrigation. I: Model Development

Abstract

Researchers developed several mathematical models for simulating furrow irrigation using the Saint-Venant equations. Most of these irrigation models use numerical techniques to solve these equations, which in general, require extensive programming and computational skills. Moreover, several of these models consider uniform soil and use empirical equations for modeling infiltration. In this article, a physically based furrow irrigation model was presented for simulating flow in irrigated furrows under both uniform and layered soils. The model consisted of an overland flow and an infiltration module that are modeled using analytical solution of the zero-inertia and the Green and Ampt [one-dimensional and two-dimensional infiltration equations) equations, respectively. Furthermore, the infiltration was also modeled using the Kostiakov-Lewis infiltration equation. The model considered all possible furrow shapes and included graphical user interface. The developed model was evaluated using the field data and the model performance was discussed in the second part of the article.