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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Maricopa, Arizona » U.S. Arid Land Agricultural Research Center » Water Management and Conservation Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #334179
Title: A flexible system for the estimation of infiltration and hydraulic resistance parameters in surface irrigation

Author
item Bautista, Eduardo
item Schlegel, James

Submitted to: Transactions of the ASABE
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/17/2017
Publication Date: 8/29/2017
Publication URL: https://handle.nal.usda.gov/10113/5801877
Citation: Bautista, E., Schlegel, J.L. 2017. A flexible system for the estimation of infiltration and hydraulic resistance parameters in surface irrigation. Transactions of the ASABE. 60(4):1223-1234.

Interpretive Summary: A software component was developed for the estimation of the parameters of infiltration and hydraulic resistance models in surface irrigation. The component relies on volume balance calculations has been integrated into the version 5 of WinSRFR, a software package for the hydraulic analysis of surface irrigation systems. The development pursued three objectives. The first objective was to facilitate the application of volume balance analysis to varied data configurations. This flexibility is needed because irrigation measurements that can be obtained from field evaluations can vary depending on field conditions, labor, equipment etc. A second objective was to expand the range of infiltration and hydraulic resistance models used for estimation in the WinSRFR package. In particular, the development sought to enable the estimation of parameters of flow depth-dependent infiltration models. The last objective was to enhance the computational procedures, which have inherent inaccuracies, provide feedback to the user, and provide mechanisms for correcting errors. The capabilities and limitations of the proposed procedures were examined with computational tests. The software component will enhance the estimation capabilities of the WInSRFR package. This development is of interest to NRCS personnel, irrigation consultants, extension agents, and researchers.

Technical Abstract: Critical to the use of modeling tools for the hydraulic analysis of surface irrigation systems is characterizing the infiltration and hydraulic resistance process. Since those processes are still not well understood, various formulations are currently used to represent them. A software component has been developed for the estimation of parameters of infiltration and hydraulic resistance models. Infiltration computations rely on volume balance analysis. The software provides flexibility for defining the estimation problem with various data configurations. The procedure works with various infiltration and resistance formulations. Given the inherent inaccuracies of volume balance analysis, the software provides tools for identifying and correcting some of those inaccuracies. Computational tests are provided to illustrate capabilities and limitations of the proposed procedures.