Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering

Labyrinth Weirs: Nappe Interference and Local Submergence

B. M. Crookston and B. P. Tullis
The interaction of nappes from adjacent weir walls near an upstream apex can cause local submergence, which reduces labyrinth weir discharge efficiency. Local submergence effects can cause the head-discharge relationships for labyrinth weirs of equivalent length but different cycle number to differ. ... [Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering doi:10.1061/(ASCE)IR.1943-4774.0000466] posted Mon Feb 13, 2012.

Piano Key Weir: Reservoir vs. Channel Application

R. M. Anderson and B. P. Tullis
The piano key or PK weir is a relatively new non-linear weir geometry that can be used to increase spillway discharge capacity over linear weir geometries, particularly when the weir footprint is restricted (e.g., spillways on the crest of a concrete dam). The majority of the published PK weir resea ... [Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering doi:10.1061/(ASCE)IR.1943-4774.0000464] posted Thu Feb 9, 2012.

Characterization of Pumps for Irrigation in Central California: Potential Energy Savings

Luis Perez Urrestarazu and Charles M. Burt
Many pumps are used for irrigation in Central California but a great number of them are operating inefficiently. In this paper, the information recovered from over 15,000 electric irrigation pump tests in Central California is analyzed. The objectives of this study are to define the common character ... [Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering doi:10.1061/(ASCE)IR.1943-4774.0000463] posted Thu Feb 9, 2012.

Errors in Infiltration Calculations in Volume Balance Models

E. Bautista, T. S. Strelkoff, and A. J. Clemmens
Volume balance models of surface irrigation calculate the infiltrated volume at a given time as a product of the stream length, upstream infiltration, and shape factors. The best known expression of this type was derived by combining the Lewis-Milne equation with empirical power-law expressions for ... [Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering doi:10.1061/(ASCE)IR.1943-4774.0000462] posted Thu Feb 9, 2012.

Improved Surface Volume Estimates for Surface Irrigation Volume Balance Calculations

E. Bautista, T. S. Strelkoff, and A. J. Clemmens
This article reviews procedures for estimating surface storage in surface irrigation volume balance calculations. Those procedures are based on the assumption of a power law relationship for flow depth as a function of distance along the stream. The analysis uses zero-inertia simulation and a system ... [Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering doi:10.1061/(ASCE)IR.1943-4774.0000461] posted Thu Feb 9, 2012.

Impacts of Hay Mulch on Soil Properties and Potato Tuber Yield under Irrigation and Non-Irrigation in New Brunswick, Canada

Zisheng Xing, Pat Toner, Lien Chow, Herb W. Rees, Sheng Li et al.
Organic mulching and irrigation have been considered important soil conservation and agricultural practices. However, the effectiveness of these practices on soil properties and potato production in the relatively cool, moist maritime region of Canada has not yet been well studied. In the growing se ... [Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering doi:10.1061/(ASCE)IR.1943-4774.0000459] posted Thu Feb 9, 2012.

An Optimization Model for BMPs Placement in a Reservoir Watershed

Shih-Kai Ciou, Jan-Tai Kuo, Pin-Hui Hsieh, and Gwo-Hsing Yu
The purpose of this study was to develop an optimization model for the optimal placement of structural BMPs (Best Management Practices) at the watershed scale for a reservoir. In this research, three types of structural BMPs were considered, i.e. a wet detention pond, grass swale and infiltration tr ... [Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering doi:10.1061/(ASCE)IR.1943-4774.0000458] posted Thu Feb 9, 2012.

Roughened Channels with Cross Beams Flow Features

Rita Fernandes de Carvalho and Manuel Lorena
The implementation of roughened channels with cross beams (RCCB) in drainage systems reduces the negative effects of high kinetic energy on flood flows, such as the increased erosion of infrastructures or of the ground. Through an adequate placement of cross sills or beams, the flow produces success ... [Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering doi:10.1061/(ASCE)IR.1943-4774.0000457] posted Mon Feb 6, 2012.

Comparison of Multilevel Calibration and Volume Balance Method for Estimating Furrow Infiltration

B. Moravejalahkami, B. Mostafazadeh-Fard, M. Heidarpour, and F. Abbasi
Furrow irrigation is one of the oldest methods of irrigation in which the soil surface is used to convey and infiltrate water. The most important problem in the path of improving furrow irrigation performance is the difficulty of estimating the infiltration function. In this study multilevel calibra ... [Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering doi:10.1061/(ASCE)IR.1943-4774.0000456] posted Wed Feb 1, 2012.

Hydraulic Performance of Asymmetric Labyrinth Side Weirs Located on a Straight Channel

A. Parvaneh, S. M. Borghei, and M. R. Jalili Ghazizadeh
This paper details a new design for labyrinth side weirs, which has been tested and analyzed. The proposed geometry for this labyrinth side weir differs from a triangular labyrinth side weir, in that it is asymmetric in plan. The hydraulic behavior of the present labyrinth side weir, with a constant ... [Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering doi:10.1061/(ASCE)IR.1943-4774.0000455] posted Wed Feb 1, 2012.

Use of Stable Isotopes Deuterium and Oxygen-18 to Derive Evaporation from Flood Irrigation on the Basis of Pan Evaporation Techniques

J. van den Akker, C. T. Simmons, and J. L. Hutson
The loss of water to the atmosphere during flood irrigation occurs through evaporation and transpiration. Whereas transpiration can be estimated through the FAO56 methodology, actual evaporation is difficult to quantify in water balance studies. In this study, two analytical models, previously devel ... [J. Irrig. Drain Eng. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)IR.1943-4774.0000361] published Fri Jan 13, 2012.

Reviewers

Abstract not available. [J. Irrig. Drain Eng. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)IR.1943-4774.0000422] published Fri Jan 13, 2012.

Salinity Effects from Evaporation and Transpiration under Flood Irrigation

J. van den Akker, C. T. Simmons, and J. L. Hutson
Transpiration and evaporation rates from irrigated pastures can be adequately assessed by conventional methods and more recently, by the use of stable isotopes deltaH and deltaO. However, the salinity effects that transpiration and evaporation have on infiltrating irrigation waters and residual soil ... [J. Irrig. Drain Eng. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)IR.1943-4774.0000364] published Fri Jan 13, 2012.

New Method of Hydraulic Performance Evaluation on Emitters with Labyrinth Channels

Jun Zhang, Wanhua Zhao, and Bingheng Lu
Hydraulic performance of the emitter is crucial in drip-irrigation systems. Considering the limitations of evaluating an emitter's hydraulic performance, a new method was proposed by using a pressure loss coefficient (PLC) as the evaluation index, which was derived from frictional and local losses o ... [J. Irrig. Drain Eng. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)IR.1943-4774.0000365] published Fri Jan 13, 2012.

Applying Water-Level Difference Control to Central Arizona Project

G. Guan, A. J. Clemmens, T. F. Kacerek, and B. T. Wahlin
The Central Arizona Project (CAP) has been supplying Colorado River water to Central Arizona for roughly 25 years. The CAP canal is operated remotely with a supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system. Gate-position changes are made either manually or through the use of automatic control ... [J. Irrig. Drain Eng. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)IR.1943-4774.0000351] published Fri Jan 13, 2012.

Valley Crossings and Flood Management for Ancient Roman Aqueduct Bridges

Wayne F. Lorenz and Phillip Wolfram
Calculation of stormwater flow passage underneath two ancient Roman bridges supporting an aqueduct in southern France provides insight into the Roman engineers' design of aqueduct bridges. The bridges are quite different although the watersheds they cross have similar characteristics. At a height of ... [J. Irrig. Drain Eng. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)IR.1943-4774.0000359] published Fri Jan 13, 2012.

Theoretical Determination of Sequent Depths in Closed Conduits

Nathan J. Lowe, Rollin H. Hotchkiss, and E. James Nelson
To predict hydraulic jump characteristics for channel design, jump height may be determined by calculating the subcritical sequent depth from momentum theory. In closed conduits, however, a hydraulic jump may fill the conduit entirely before the expected sequent depth is reached. This paper reviews ... [J. Irrig. Drain Eng. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)IR.1943-4774.0000349] published Fri Jan 13, 2012.

Determining Air Demand for Small- to Medium-Sized Embankment Dam Low-Level Outlet Works

B. P. Tullis and J. Larchar
Air vents in low-level outlet works are installed downstream of control gates or valves to mitigate subatmospheric pressures locally and reduce the potential for damaging cavitation. Published air-vent-sizing methods, which have been limited to large-dam outlet geometries (in-line vertical slide gat ... [J. Irrig. Drain Eng. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)IR.1943-4774.0000345] published Fri Jan 13, 2012.

Parshall Flume Discharge Corrections: Wall Staff Gauge and Centerline Measurements

Bryan Heiner and Steven L. Barfuss
Parshall flumes were developed in the early 1900s as a simple and inexpensive way to provide accurate flow measurement in open channels. Unfortunately, many Parshall flumes in use today do not follow essential design parameters that prevent them from accurately measuring flow. Two design parameters ... [J. Irrig. Drain Eng. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)IR.1943-4774.0000355] published Fri Jan 13, 2012.

A Semi-Quantitative Analysis of Water Approapriations and Allocations in the Upper Rio Grande Basin, Colorado

Ken Mix, Vicente L. Lopes, and Walter Rast
A semi-quantitative analysis was used to assess the impacts of water rights appropriations and allocations in the Upper Rio Grande (URG) Basin, in Colorado, USA. The study also explores the causes and effects of the changes on collateral elements in the URG agriculture system, namely the San Luis Va ... [Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering doi:10.1061/(ASCE)IR.1943-4774.0000436] posted Fri Jan 6, 2012.

Modified Hargreaves-Samani Equation for the Assessment of Reference Evapotranspiration in Alpine River Basins

Giovanni Ravazzani, Chiara Corbari, Stefano Morella, Paride Gianoli, and Marco Mancini
Deriving accurate estimates of reference evapotranspiration is required for water resources management, irrigation water requirement computations and successfully hydrological modelling. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) recommended the Penman-Monteith equation as the ... [Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering doi:10.1061/(ASCE)IR.1943-4774.0000453] posted Tue Dec 20, 2011.

Rasgeminec Model for Sectoring Optimization in Pressurized Irrigation Networks Using Simulated Annealing Approach

Alberto Garcia Prats, Santiago Guillem Pico, Fernando Martinez Alzamora, Miguel Angel, and Jimenez Bello
A pressurized irrigation network may operate in two ways, namely: on-demand and organized under operating sectors. In the first case, the user decides when to irrigate, and the pumping station has to meet the discharge and pressure head requirements of the group of users that is demanding water at a ... [Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering doi:10.1061/(ASCE)IR.1943-4774.0000452] posted Mon Dec 19, 2011.

Discharge Efficiency of Reservoir-Application-Specific Labyrinth Weirs

B. M. Crookston and B. P. Tullis
Published labyrinth weir designs, which have primarily been developed based on labyrinth weir test data from laboratory flumes, are specific to in-channel labyrinth weir applications where the approach flow is oriented normal to the weir axis. Consequently, some uncertainty exists regarding the hydr ... [Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering doi:10.1061/(ASCE)IR.1943-4774.0000451] posted Mon Dec 19, 2011.

Estimating Daily Surface Soil Moisture Using a Daily Diagnostic Soil Moisture Equation

Feifei Pan
There is one common problem associated with water balance calculation methods for determining soil moisture for scheduling irrigation, i.e., the errors in the estimated soil moisture are cumulative and a regular recalibration is needed. A simple and robust approach to estimate daily soil moisture us ... [Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering doi:10.1061/(ASCE)IR.1943-4774.0000450] posted Mon Dec 19, 2011.

Performance Analysis and Calibration of a New Low-Cost Capacitance Soil Moisture Sensor

George Kargas and Konstantinos X. Soulis
Several newly developed sensors based on capacitance and frequency techniques have simplified real-time determination of soil water content (theta). The 10HS sensor (Decagon Devices Inc., Pullman, WA, USA) is one of the most recent developments in capacitance sensors. However, up to now, little is k ... [Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering doi:10.1061/(ASCE)IR.1943-4774.0000449] posted Mon Dec 19, 2011.

Evaporation Studies of Canopy Covered On-Farm Reservoir

Bharat C. Sahoo, Sudhindra N. Panda, and Pravin Patil
In the present study, fifteen existing evaporation models based on flux gradient, energy balance and mass transfer approaches are used to estimate the rate of evaporation from regular sized open on-farm reservoir (OFR). Statistical analysis has been carried out for screening of the models. Root mean ... [Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering doi:10.1061/(ASCE)IR.1943-4774.0000448] posted Sat Dec 17, 2011.

Road Runoff Water-Quality Mitigation by Permeable Modular Concrete Pavers

Elizabeth A. Fassman and Samuel D. Blackbourn
Discharge from a 200 m permeable modular concrete paver test section on an atypical 6.0 to 7.4% slope and in an active roadway was monitored concurrently with an adjacent reference conventional asphalt section in Auckland, New Zealand. The permeable modular pavement (PMP) underdrain water quality h ... [J. Irrig. Drain Eng. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)IR.1943-4774.0000339] published Fri Dec 16, 2011.

Discussion of Discharge Capacity of Labyrinth Side Weir Located on a Straight Channel by M. Emin Emiroglu, Nihat Kaya, and Hayrullah Agaccioglu

A. Parvaneh, S. M. Borghei, and M. R. Jalili Ghazizadeh
Abstract not available. [J. Irrig. Drain Eng. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)IR.1943-4774.0000272] published Fri Dec 16, 2011.

Critical Channel Dimensions for Open-Channel Transition Design

Amlan Das
The channel dimensions leading to the critical state of flow are important in the design of channel transition. This work describes a methodology for determining the channel dimensions leading to the critical state of flow to maintain given specific energy or specific force conditions. The developed ... [J. Irrig. Drain Eng. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)IR.1943-4774.0000344] published Fri Dec 16, 2011.

Assessment of Hydraulic Performance of Drip-Irrigation Emitters at Low Head Pressures

Chao Zhang, Yaohu Kang, Shufang Jiang, Shuqin Wan, and Shiping Liu
The hydraulic performance of drip-irrigation emitters is very important for the design of drip-irrigation systems, especially when commonly available high-head emitters are used in low-head drip-irrigation systems. This study tested three representative commercially available emitters using a custom ... [J. Irrig. Drain Eng. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)IR.1943-4774.0000363] published Fri Dec 16, 2011.

Closure to Discharge Capacity of Labyrinth Side Weir Located on a Straight Channel by M. Emin Emiroglu, Nihat Kaya, and Hayrullah Agaccioglu

M. Emin Emiroglu, Nihat Kaya, and Hayrullah Agaccioglu
Abstract not available. [J. Irrig. Drain Eng. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)IR.1943-4774.0000350] published Fri Dec 16, 2011.

Reference Curve Numbers and Behavior for Sugarcane on Highly Weathered Tropical Soils

Aderson Sartori, Richard H. Hawkins, and Abel M. Genovez
This work examines rainfall-runoff behavior and determines the reference curve numbers (CNs) on a highly weathered tropical clayey soil (Oxisol, or latosol) in Brazil for three conditions: (1) bare soil; (2) sugarcane with replanting each three years; and (3) near-permanent sugarcane without replant ... [J. Irrig. Drain Eng. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)IR.1943-4774.0000354] published Fri Dec 16, 2011.

Methodology for Identifying the Best Equations for Estimating the Time of Concentration of Watersheds in a Particular Region

Soroosh Sharifi and Seyed Mahmood Hosseini
In this paper, a methodology is proposed for identifying the best equations for estimating the time of concentration (ToC) of watersheds located in a specific geographic region. The methodology primarily works on the basis of modifying available equations to minimize their bias for any particular re ... [J. Irrig. Drain Eng. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)IR.1943-4774.0000373] published Fri Dec 16, 2011.

Estimating Solar Radiation from Temperature with Spatial and Temporal Calibration

Zohrab Samani, George Hargreaves, Vien Tran, and Salim Bawazir
A procedure is introduced to estimate daily solar radiation from maximum and minimum temperatures for areas where solar radiation is either unavailable or unreliable. The procedure uses historical temperature data for spatial and temporal self-calibration. The results from the self-calibrated proced ... [J. Irrig. Drain Eng. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)IR.1943-4774.0000342] published Fri Dec 16, 2011.

Modified G and G Correction Factors for Laterals with Multiple Outlets and Outflow

Sayed-Hossein Sadeghi and Troy Peters
Anwar's friction correction factor, G, and the average correction factor, G, are used to compute the head loss resulting from friction and to calculate the required inlet pressure in horizontal tapered sprinkler laterals with multiple outlets. As a result of their being developed by using a discrete ... [J. Irrig. Drain Eng. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)IR.1943-4774.0000332] published Fri Dec 16, 2011.

Estimating Evapotranspiration by Using Atmometers for Irrigation Scheduling in a Humid Environment

J. W. Knox, J. A. Rodriguez-Diaz, and T. M. Hess
Evapotranspiration data from three commercial atmometers (ET) were compared over an irrigation season for instrumental precision, and compared against Penman-Monteith (ET) data from an automatic weather station for accuracy. The effects of using contrasting ET estimation methods on the timing and am ... [J. Irrig. Drain Eng. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)IR.1943-4774.0000353] published Fri Dec 16, 2011.