Measurement and Prediction of Total Friction Losses in Drip Irrigation Laterals with Cylindrical Integrated in-line Drip Emitters using CFD Analysis Method

Abstract

The objective of this study was to predict total friction losses in drip irrigation laterals with cylindrical integrated inlineemitters at different spacing using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation method. Two types of dripirrigation laterals with different technical specifications were used in the study. In the laboratory, the total friction losseswere measured in the laterals for different velocities. In CFD analysis, standard k-ε, RNG k-ε, realizable k-ε, ReynoldsStress (RSM) with Linear Pressure-Strain (LPS) turbulence models and standard wall function, non-equilibrium wallfunction, enhanced wall treatment were considered. CFD simulation results were compared with experimental totalfriction losses in laterals. The highest prediction was obtained by RSM turbulence model with LPS using standard wallfunction with the lowest values of MAPE (2.96%) and RMSE (369 Pa).