IMPROVING THE PERFORMANCE OF MICRO SPRINKLERS IRRIGATION BY REDUCING ITS RANDOM MOTION

Abstract

Limited fresh water resources become a serious issue worldwide particularly arid and semi-arid conditions. Therefore more efficient irrigation systems are fundamentally required to increase water productivity. Micro sprinklers are among these new systems to maximize irrigation efficiency. Random motion of micro sprinklers head reduces the uniformity of water. This study aimed to improve water distribution efficiency of micro sprinklers by reducing its random motion. The study investigated the effects of operating pressure, sprinkler height on the performance of micro sprinklers before and after modification. Irrigation system was operated at four different levels of operating pressure (150, 180, 220 and 250 kPa) and three different sprinkler heights of 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5 m. Water distribution efficiency was evaluated through the calculation of Christiansen’s uniformity coefficient (CCU) and distribution uniformity (DU). The highest CCU and DU values of 91.8% and 86% were recorded with 250 kPa operating pressure, and 1.5 m sprinkler height when using copper support followed by same conditions when using PVC tubes. Therefore, sprinklers without support produced less water distribution efficiency in comparison to cases of copper and PVC tubes. The results thus revealed that water distribution efficiency can be maximized through reducing random motion of sprinkler head and choosing the optimum operating conditions (e.g. operating pressure and sprinkler height).