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ARS Home » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #59342
Title: DIMENSIONLESS CHARACTERIZATION OF CANAL POOLS

Author
item STRELKOFF, THEODOR - UNIVERSITY OF AZ, TUCSON
item Clemmens, Albert
item GOOCH, ROBERT - SALT RIVER PROJECT PHX AZ

Submitted to: International Conference on Water Resources Engineering Proceedings
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/18/1995
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Water is becoming a scarce resource, and agricultural water users are under pressure to use water more judiciously. For many large irrigation projects, the physical infrastructure that delivers water to users influences their ability to manage the water supplied to them. From a management standpoint, distribution of water through pressurized pipelines would be more advantageous than delivery through canals, but for large-scale systems, canals are singificantly less expensive to construct. Conversion from canals to pipelines, likewise, is typically very expensive. Canal operations, however, can be improved by providing canal operators with better tools for determining control actions. Through field tests on an actual canal, progress is being made on one such tool: computerized automatic control of canal gates. This technology is not routinely available. The tests will determine the capabilities of various controllers, appropriate methods for tuning the controllers, and limitations in field application. The results of this work will benefit irrigation district personnel, consultants, and ultimately, farmers.

Technical Abstract: The response of canals to control measures can be studied in a systematic program of simulations covering the practical range of interest of each variable. The large number of variables is reduced by putting the governing equations in nondimensional form, with normal depth at design discharge the principle reference variable. Units of Manning n and associated coefficients in various dimensional systems are derived. The concept of hypothetical dimensioned canal is introduced to give a physical meaning to dimensionless results. Adaptation of standard, dimensioned simulation models to dimensionless studies is explored. A steady-state example is given.