The course aims to give students the basic information required for irrigation practice at plot and farm scale. Basic hydraulics, with numerical examples on hydrostatics and aqueducts, both pressurized and gravitational, will be presented. Moreover, attention will be paid to the procedures for selecting, sizing and managing the mostly used irrigation systems, ,both pressurized and gravitational.
Allen R.G., Pereira L.S., Raes D., Smith M.: Crop evapotranspiration-guidelines for computing crop water requirements, FAO Irrigation and drainage paper n.56, Roma, 1998.
Capra A., Scicolone B.: Progettazione e gestione degli impianti di irrigazione, Edagricole, Bologna, 2016.
Doorenbos J., Pruitt W.O.: Crop water requirements, FAO Irrigation and drainage paper n.24, Roma, 1977.
Falciai M.: Elementi di idraulica generale, ed. Teorema, 1974, Firenze.
Falciai M.: Tecnica dell’irrigazione, ed. CUSL Firenze, 1993.
Rieul L., Ruelle P. (coordination): Irrigation - Guide pratique, Cemagref Editions, 2003.
Teaching aids supplied by the teacher
Learning Objectives
Knolewdge acquired: the course comprises lectures aiming at supplying the student with the knowledge required for irrigation practices at field and farm scale.
Competence acquired at the end of the course: knowledge on soil hydrology, hydrological balance and evapotranspiration methods. Basic knowledge on design and check criteria of pressurized and traditional irrigation systems, irrigation management.
Skills acquired at the end of the course: describe the hydrological balance and the irrigation parameters, design and manage pressurized irrigation systems (sprinkler and micro)., practice irrigation under conditions of limited water supply; capability to describe and quantify the main hydrological events at basin scale, understanding water control activities and design criteria of expected hydraulic works.
Prerequisites
Students are expected to be familiar with the principles of mathematics and physics.
Teaching Methods
CFU: 6
Total hours of the course (including the time spent in attending lectures, seminars, private study, examinations, etc...): 48
Contact hours for: Lectures (hours): 26
Contact hours for: Laboratory-field/practice (hours): 20
Intermediate examinations: 2
Further information
Attendance is recommended. Exercises consist of numerical and practical applications of the topics.
Type of Assessment
Exam modality: oral examination on the subjects of lectures and laboratory
Assessment: approach to actual case studies; correct use of technical language.
Course program
Physical entities and measurement.
Basic hydraulics:
Hydrostatics: force over vertical and inclined surfaces
Hydrodynamics: flow type, continuity equation, Bernoulli equation. Viscosity. Newton equation. Friction losses.
Classification of spillways, discharge measurement.
Open channel flows: check and design.
Pressurized flows: design of gravity and water lifting (waterworks) systems; characteristics of the centrifugal pumps.
Irrigation principles- Soil hydrology. Saturation, field capacity, refilling point, permanent wilting point. Infiltration rate. Soil water movement.
Crop evapotranspiration and calculation methods. FAO methodology: evaporimeter, Blaney-Criddle, Penman-Monteith, Hargreaves.
Irrigation parameters: irrigation dose, irrigation interval, irrigation time.
The hydrological balance.
Design criteria for pressurized irrigation systems. Sprinkler and localized irrigation. Selection of irrigation equipment. Selection of pipe diameter and pump type. Distribution uniformity indicators (DU, CU) and irrigation efficiency (IE). Performance evaluation of pressurized irrigation systems. Surface irrigation.