Numerical Modeling of Water Movement from Buried Vertical Ceramic Pipes through Coarse Soils

Abstract

Problem of water scarcity is becoming common in many parts of the world. Thus to overcome this problem proper management of water and an efficient irrigation systems are needed. Irrigation with buried vertical ceramic pipe is known as a very effective in management of irrigation water. The two- dimensional transient flow of water from a buried vertical ceramic pipe through homogenous porous media is simulated numerically using the software HYDRUS/2D to predict empirical formulas that describe the predicted results accurately. Different values of pipe lengths and hydraulic conductivity were selected. In addition, different values of initial volumetric soil water content were assumed in this simulation as initial conditions. Different values of applied head were assumed in this simulation as a boundary conditions. In general, a good agreement was obtained when comparing the predicted results with available measured values. The results of this research showed that greater spreading occur in vertical direction. Increasing applied heads, initial soil water contents, pipe hydraulic conductivities, cause increasing the size of wetting patterns. Also the results showed that the empirical formulas which can be used for expressing the wetted width and depth in terms of applied head, initial soil water content, application time, pipe hydraulic conductivity, and pipe length, are good and can be used as a designing equations.