The Effect of Sedimentin Yellow River on Hydraulic Characteristics of Spray Sprinkler

Abstract

The water shortage has become a great challenge for Yellow River irrigation regions; for the high level of suspended sediment in Yellow River, sprinkler irrigation, which has achieved superior anti-clogging performance, can be an effective solution for water conservation in agriculture management. For the direct utilization of the Yellow River water resource in irrigation land as irrigated by movable sprinkler irrigation systems, a series of experiments about the effect of sediment-water on the hydraulic performance of fixed spray plate sprinkler was conducted. The results showed that peak water precipitation rate appeared as both clean and sediment-water jetting from the groove, and the differences were that sediment-water minimized peak value of water application rate and increased wetted radius efficiently. The water distribution of an individual sprinkler resembled lotus shape with different working conditions, and the application rate nearby sprinkler increased with the increase insediment concentration, resulting in higher water distribution uniformity. In addition, sediment-water increased the spray distance remarkably with a maximum increasing ratio of 7.79%; meanwhile, it led to the transfer of peak application region to the edge of the wetted circle and, consequently, the wetted area increased. The calculation result of the water diffusion coefficient indicated that sediment-water contributed to splintering water jet effectively, but the analysis of variance showed that no significant change was obtained with increasing sediment concentration. All these results suggested that the sediment-water in Yellow River could be directly utilized in agriculture irrigation with superior hydraulic performance, and it would be helpful to protect and maximize the utilization of the Yellow River resource.