Publication Details
Abstract
Sprinkler irrigation technology is widely used for efficient irrigation of agricultural crops. One of the key requirements for achieving high agronomic efficiency is the uniform distribution of water across the irrigated field. Uneven water distribution may lead to excessive irrigation in some areas and insufficient irrigation in others, which negatively affects crop productivity and water use efficiency. Therefore, the development of scientifically based methods for analyzing and optimizing the operation of sprinkler irrigation systems is an important task in modern agricultural engineering. This study is devoted to the development of a mathematical model for the irrigation process using stationary sprinkler devices. The mechanism of water distribution over the field surface was analyzed based on probability density functions describing the spatial distribution of droplets produced by rotating sprinkler heads. In the proposed model, the angular distribution of water flow was assumed to be uniform, while the radial distribution of droplet flight distance was described using a normal probability distribution. The modeling approach also takes into account the hydraulic characteristics of sprinkler nozzles and the geometric arrangement of irrigation devices. As a result of simulation calculations, the spatial distribution of irrigation depth across the field was obtained. Based on the calculated data, the coefficient of variation of irrigation depth, the uniformity coefficient, and indicators of effective irrigation were determined. The modeling results made it possible to evaluate the influence of the distance between sprinkler devices and their operating parameters on irrigation uniformity.