Non-negligible factors in low-pressure sprinkler irrigation: droplet impact angle and shear stress

doi:10.1007/s40333-022-0029-5

Journal of Arid Land

2022, Vol. 14

Issue (11): 1293-1316 DOI: 10.1007/s40333-022-0029-5 CSTR: 32276.14.s40333-022-0029-5

Research article

Non-negligible factors in low-pressure sprinkler irrigation: droplet impact angle and shear stress

HUI Xin¹, ZHENG Yudong¹, MUHAMMAD Rizwan Shoukat¹, TAN Haibin², YAN Haijun¹^,³^,^*(

)

¹College of Water Resources and Civil Engineering, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100083, China
²Semi-arid Agriculture Engineering & Technology Research Center of China, Shijiazhuang 050051, China
³Engineering Research Center of Agricultural Water-Saving and Water Resources, Ministry of Education, Beijing 100083, China

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Abstract

Droplet shear stress is considered as an important indicator that reflects soil erosion in sprinkler irrigation more accurately than kinetic energy, and the effect of droplet impact angle on the shear stress cannot be ignored. In this study, radial distribution of droplet impact angles, velocities, and shear stresses were investigated using a two-dimensional video disdrometer with three types of low-pressure sprinkler (Nelson D3000, R3000, and Komet KPT) under two operating pressures (103 and 138 kPa) and three nozzle diameters (3.97, 5.95, and 7.94 mm). Furthermore, the relationships among these characteristical parameters of droplet were analyzed, and their influencing factors were comprehensively evaluated. For various types of sprinkler, operating pressures, and nozzle diameters, the smaller impact angles and larger velocities of droplets were found to occur closer to the sprinkler, resulting in relatively low droplet shear stresses. The increase in distance from the sprinkler caused the droplet impact angle to decrease and velocity to increase, which contributed to a significant increase in the shear stress that reached the peak value at the end of the jet. Therefore, the end of the jet was the most prone to soil erosion in the radial direction, and the soil erosion in sprinkler irrigation could not only be attributed to the droplet kinetic energy, but also needed to be combined with the analysis of its shear stress. Through comparing the radial distributions of average droplet shear stresses among the three types of sprinklers, D3000 exhibited the largest value (26.94-3313.51 N/m²), followed by R3000 (33.34-2650.80 N/m²), and KPT (16.15-2485.69 N/m²). From the perspective of minimizing the risk of soil erosion, KPT sprinkler was more suitable for low-pressure sprinkler irrigation than D3000 and R3000 sprinklers. In addition to selecting the appropriate sprinkler type to reduce the droplet shear stress, a suitable sprinkler spacing could also provide acceptable results, because the distance from the sprinkler exhibited a highly significant (P<0.01) effect on the shear stress. This study results provide a new reference for the design of low-pressure sprinkler irrigation system.

Key words： center pivot irrigation system water droplet universal model soil erosion water-saving irrigation

Received: 13 May 2022 Published: 30 November 2022

Corresponding Authors: *YAN Haijun (E-mail: yanhj@cau.edu.cn)

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	HUI Xin
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Cite this article:

HUI Xin, ZHENG Yudong, MUHAMMAD Rizwan Shoukat, TAN Haibin, YAN Haijun. Non-negligible factors in low-pressure sprinkler irrigation: droplet impact angle and shear stress. Journal of Arid Land, 2022, 14(11): 1293-1316.

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http://jal.xjegi.com/10.1007/s40333-022-0029-5 OR http://jal.xjegi.com/Y2022/V14/I11/1293

Fig. 1 Test for the droplet of low-pressure sprinkler. (a), scenario of test; (b), schematic of test.

Fig. 2 2DVD instrument for measuring droplets. (a), composition of 2DVD; (b), schematic of measuring planes of 2DVD.

Table 1 Working parameters and corresponding flow rates of the three types of low-pressure sprinkler

Fig. 3 Relative frequency distributions of droplet impact angles along the spray direction for the three types of sprinkler and three nozzle diameters at an operating pressure of 103 kPa. (a-c), D3000; (d-f), R3000; (g-i), KPT.

Fig. 4 Relative frequency distributions of droplet impact angles along the spray direction for the three types of sprinkler and three nozzle diameters at an operating pressure of 138 kPa. (a-c), D3000; (d-f), R3000; (g-i), KPT.

Table 2 Coefficients of variation of droplet impact angles along the spray direction under the three types of sprinkler, three nozzle diameters, and two operating pressures

Fig. 5 Average droplet impact angles along the spray direction under the three types of sprinkler, three nozzle diameters, and two operating pressures. (a-c), 103 kPa; (d-f), 138 kPa.

Table 3 Regression equations between average droplet impact angle and distance from sprinkler under the three types of sprinkler, three nozzle diameters, and two operating pressures

Fig. 6 Comparison between simulated and measured average droplet impact angles obtained by using Equation 4

Fig. 7 Relationships between droplet velocities and impact angles along the spray direction for the three types of sprinkler and three nozzle diameters at an operating pressure of 103 kPa. (a-c), D3000; (d-f), R3000; (g-i), KPT.

Fig. 8 Relationships between droplet velocities and impact angles along the spray direction for the three types of sprinkler and three nozzle diameters at an operating pressure of 138 kPa. (a-c), D3000; (d-f), R3000; (g-i), KPT.

Table 4 Droplet velocity and impact angle range at different distances from sprinkler for the three types of sprinkler with three nozzle diameters and two operating pressures

Table 5 Regression analysis between droplet velocity and impact angle along the spray direction for the three types of sprinkler with three nozzle diameters and two operating pressures

Fig. 9 Comparison between simulated and measured droplet impact angles using Equation 5

Fig. 10 Relationships between droplet impact angles and shear stresses along the spray direction for the three types of sprinkler and three nozzle diameters at an operating pressure of 103 kPa. (a-c), D3000; (d-f), R3000; (g-i), KPT.

Fig. 11 Relationships between droplet impact angles and shear stresses along the spray direction for the three types of sprinkler and three nozzle diameters at an operating pressure of 138 kPa. (a-c), D3000; (d-f), R3000; (g-i), KPT.

Table 6 Droplet shear stress ranges at different distances from sprinkler for the three types of sprinkler with three nozzle diameters and two operating pressures

Table 7 Regression analysis between droplet impact angle and shear stress along the spray direction for the three types of sprinkler with three nozzle diameters and two operating pressures

Fig. 12 Comparison between simulated and measured droplet shear stresses obtained using Equation 6

Fig. 13 Distributions of average droplet shear stresses along spray direction for the three types of sprinkler with three nozzle diameters and two operating pressures. (a-c), 103 kPa; (d-f), 138 kPa.

Table 8 Regression analysis between average droplet shear stress and distance from sprinkler under the three types of sprinkler with three nozzle diameters and two operating pressures

Fig. 14 Comparison between simulated and measured average droplet shear stresses obtained by using Equation 7

Table 9 Analysis of variance for effects of four influencing factors on three parameters of droplet


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