Design of minimum water-loss canal sections

Abstract

The canal water losses constitute of seepage and evaporation losses. Whereas seepage loss depends on the channel geometry, evaporation loss is proportional to the area of free surface. On account of complexities of analysis, the design of minimum water loss section has not been attempted as yet. In this investigation explicit equations for the design variables of minimum water loss sections for triangular, rectangular, and trapezoidal canals have been obtained using non-linear optimization technique. The proposed equations along with tabulated section shape parameters facilitate easy design of the minimum water loss section and computation of water loss from the section without going through the conventional and cumbersome trial and error method. A design example has been included to demonstrate the simplicity of the method.