Linear Solution for Hydraulic Analysis of Tapered Microirrigation Laterals

Abstract

A simplified analytical solution that takes into account the effect of the emitter discharge exponent on the hydraulic computations of tapered microirrigation laterals, is presented. The hydraulic analysis is evaluated based on the spatially variable discharge function approach. A simple power equation was used to express distribution of the variable outflow delivered from the each emitter along the lateral. An analytical solution is developed for the case of a linear relationship between the emitter discharge and pressure head, namely, the emitter discharge exponent equals to unique, y = 1.0. In this procedure, the analytical derivations can be applied for uphill, downhill, and zero slope conditions. Results are comparable to those obtained from the literature.