Analysis of Drip Irrigation Submain Unit by Finite Element Method

Design of drip irrigation system is complex because it involves hydraulics of water supply through a network of close conduit therefore, development of an accurate and simple design method is important to over come the inherent defects of the existing methods. In this study a finite element model was developed to analyse the exiting drip irrigation system by generating the element stiffness matrix for each component. A computer programme was developed to comparing the simulated values of pressure and discharge with observed values. The test results showed close agreement between observed and predicted pressure and discharge for both pressure head and both type of drippers. It is concluded that pressure and discharge can be extracted easily by giving input data to the developed finite element model. The results also indicated that finite element model was capable of estimating pressure and discharge, hence the model can successfully be applied for effective planning and management of different crop.