Effect of irrigation commutative flow technology on reducing deposition and improving anticlogging performance of a flat labyrinth drip pipe

Abstract

Abstract This paper proposes a commutative flow technology of drip irrigation in a looped pipe network. Switching the flow direction of the drip irrigation pipe can improve the flow velocity in the lateral, consequently washing up the sediment deposited in the lateral and flow channel of the emitter. Thus, this technology can reduce sediment deposition and prevent blockage of the drip irrigation pipe. To verify the effectiveness of the commutative flow technology, the drip irrigation experiment was conducted, and the unidirectional flow technology experiment was the control. At the end of the tests, the emitter average relative discharge (Dra) of the commutative and unidirectional flow drip irrigation pipes decreased to 92.8 and 62.9%, the emitter blocking rate was 7.7 and 35.9%, respectively; the total amount of sediment deposited in the commutative flow lateral was 37.5% of that in the unidirectional flow lateral. Compared with the unidirectional flow technology, the commutative flow technology could significantly mitigate the decline rate of flow discharge, and effectively reduce the emitter blockage rate and the lateral sediment amount. Thus, the application of the commutative flow technology in the drip irrigation field pipe network can improve irrigation quality and promote the development of muddy water drip irrigation.