DEVELOPMENT OF MICRO IRRIGATION DESIGN SOFTWARE (MIDS) TO OPTIMIZE TOTAL PROJECT COST AND HYDRAULIC PARAMETERS

Abstract

Iran is a large producer of agricultural products. Irrigation water resources are limitedand the water use efficiency is low. The micro irrigation system (MIS) is a versatile managementtool that can increase water productivity. Although micro irrigation has a lot of advantages, someof its disadvantages are its difficult and time-consuming design. Economical analysis of the designis one of the main factors that should be considered. This study introduces a model developed inVisual Basic called Micro Irrigation Design Software (MIDS). The software can design a MIS forvarious crops, climate, and topographic conditions. It calculates the primary design parameterssuch as ETo, ETC, irrigation water depth, wetting pattern and leaching fraction. This softwaredetermines suitable arrangements of pipes, pipe length and diameter, emitters, hydraulicparameters design, and head loss. The manifolds and main pipes could be designed as monodiameterand telescopic, and the optimized size is reported to the user. The focus of this software ison economic analysis in accordance with electricity price, energy consumption use and initial andoperation projects costs. To examine the software accuracy, some executed projects (manuallydesigned) in Fars province were rechecked considering electricity energy price in Iran. Resultsshowed that the Software was able to provide more reliable design parameters, also with electricityprice build-up to more than a certain limit, It would be possible to increase the pipeline diametersto a certain extent with a better economic result during the project lifetime.