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Title: MODELING OF IRRIGATION AND DRAINAGE CANALS FOR CONTROL PURPOSES

Author
item SCHUURMANS, JAN - DELFT UNIV OF TECH, NL
item Clemmens, Albert
item DIJKSTRA, S - DELFT UNIV OF TECH, NL
item BOSGRA, O - DELFT UNIV OF TECH, NL
item BROUWER, R - DELFT UNIV OF TECH, NL

Submitted to: Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/8/1999
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. Most large water delivery systems convey and distribute water with canals rather rthan pipelines. For large-scale systems, canals are an order of magnitude less expensive than pipelines. Infrastructure improvements (e.g., conversion to pressurized pipelines) are typically very expensive relative to changes in operations. Operations can be improved by providing canal operators with better tools for determining control actions. One such tool is the use of automatic controls. Properties of individual canal pools significantly influence the design and performance of these automatic control systems. In this paper, we present a simple model of these canal pools that is very convenient for controller design. This simple model is verified with field data. Use of this model will make application of canal automation to irrigation canals much simpler. The results should be useful for developers of canal control methods and ultimately to irrigation districts, consulting engineers and the Bureau of Reclamation.

Technical Abstract: This article presents a model for the design of water level controllers for irrigation and drainage canals. First, the processes that are relevant for canal control (such as the water movements and control-structures) are identified and modeled; thereby, a simplified model is used for the water movements. The accuracy of the water model is evaluated in two ways (1) by yusing a model that is based on a finite difference approximation of the linearized St. Venant equations, and (2) by using data from field experiments. The results indicate that the model is suitable for controller design.