JeffGilbert

TheUniversityofArizona

outline
Reasonsforconductinganaudit
Precipitation&precipitationrate
Systemoptimization

Wh ?
Why?
Playersafety
Moreconsistent/predictablefieldconditions

Turfgrass Health
Reducebiotic&abioticplantproblems
p
p

*there really isnt any 100% abiotic problems

Appl ater more efficientl

Applywatermoreefficiently
Minimizeareasthataretoowetortoodry

Limitoperatingcostassociatedwithpumping
Reduceexcessivewateringtimes
Avoidrunoff

Maximize Distribution Uniformity DU

MaximizeDistributionUniformity

How?
Calibration
Similartofertilizerspreaderofsprayer
p
p y

Allcalibrationbasicallyusesthesamecalculations
AllhaveAREAincommon.
T d
Todeterminerateincludetime.
i
i l d i

Sprinklersystemusedmuchmoreoften

th ith
thaneitherspreaderorsprayer
d

FertilizerSpreader
Product(pounds)perarea(ft2)

*Swathwidthimportantforevendistribution

Sprayer
Gallonsperarea(ft2)
Operatingpressureisanimportantfactor
O
ti
i i
t tf t
Swathwidthimportantforevendistribution
Nozzlesizeandspacingimportant

CalibrateIrrigationSystem
Ca b ate gat o Syste

Sprinkler spacing
Nozzle size
Operating pressure

ApplyingWatertoTurf
Onlyrealreasonforhavingasprinklersystem
Thisiswheretherubbermeetstheroad
Moreimportantthan:
smartcontroller
Rainsensor
R i
GettingETfromasatellite

Precipitation
GrossPrecipitation
Totalamountofwaterappliedoveragivenarea.

1.604 gallons
inches depth
ft 2
fft 3
12in. 1
1.604
x
x
7.48 gal.
ft
ft 2

example
Given:
Footballfieldplussurroundingturf
=385x220
3 5
or84700squarefeet(ft2)
Measuredvolumethroughmeter
=10,000gallons
Averageapplieddepthoverentire
field
0.19inches

1.604 10,000
0.19"
84700 ft 2

Average Depth Gross Precipitation Rate for

AverageDepthGrossPrecipitationRatefor
entirefield
Doingthistypeofcalculationisusefulforbudgeting
D i hi
f l l i i f lf b d i

butofferslittlehelpforschedulingirrigationor
improvingoveralldistributionofwater
improvingoveralldistributionofwater.

Example 2
Example2
Given:
Baseballturfgrassinfield
(usuallyasingleirrigationzone)
y
g
g
=80x80or6400ft2
Measuredvolumethroughmeter
=750gallons
Averageapplieddepthforthiszone
0.19

1.604 750 gal.

0.19"
6400 ft 2

Grossprecipitationforsinglezone
Thisisausefulmeasurementandcanbe

helpfulforschedulingirrigation.Butthisis
stillgrossprecipitationanddoesnot
g
p
p
accountforwaterlossesbetweenthemeter
andtheturf.
Notprecipitationrate
Doesnotshowhowthewaterisdistributed
overthefield/zone.
overthefield/zone

PrecipitationRate
Rateatwhichasprinklersystemapplieswatertoa

givenarea.
Precipitationrateforasystemistheaverage
precipitationrateofallsprinklersinagivenarea
regardlessofthearc,spacing,orflowrateofeach
h d
head.
PRisafunctionofthetotalsprinklerdischargeapplied
totheareabetweenthesprinklers.

Headtohead
50%ordiameter

o
Full Circle (360 )
FullCircle(360

96.3 GPM
IPH
Ft 2
f3
ft
60 min . 12inches
96.3

7.48 gal. hour

foot
Thisisusedtodeterminegross precipitationrates

IPHSquareSpacing

iph

96.3 gpm
Row
ow sp
sprinkler
inkle

Total area equivalent to full-circle sprinkler or 360o

90o + 90o + 90o +90o

E
l
Example
Eachsprinklerhasaflowrateof14gpm
ac sp
e as a o ate o 4 gp
Spacingbetweensprinklersis60
Spacingbetweenrowsis60
p
g
squarespacing

96.3 14
iph
0.37" / hour
60 60

i
l
i
IPHTriangularSpacing
96.3 gpm
Row0.866sprinkler

i h
iph

Total area equivalent to full-circle sprinkler or 360o

60o + 120o + 60o +120o
0.866 = sine of 60o

E
l
Example
Eachsprinklerhasaflowrateof14gpm
ac sp
e as a o ate o 4 gp
Spacingbetweensprinklersis60
Spacingbetweenrowsis52(60x0.866)
p
g
5 (
)
trianglespacing

96.3 14
iph
0.43" / hour
60 52

Precipitation applied to a zone

Precipitationappliedtoazone

What would be the total gallon flow for a 10 minute run from all
sprinklers? What is the total depth applied?

90o- 1.4 GPM

180o- 2.9 GPM

360o- 5.5 GPM

112

29
28

58

Wh l Z
P i i i
WholeZonePrecipitation
1.4 gp
gpm 4Q 5.6 gp
gpm
2.9 gpm 8 H 23.2 gpm
5.5 gpm 3F 16.5 gpm

5.6 23.2 16.5 45.3

45.3 gpm 10 min 453 gallons

1.604 453 gal
" depth
0.11"
112'58'

CalculatethePrecipitationRateforan
entire zone
entirezone
90o- 1.4
1 4 GPM

180o- 2.9
2 9 GPM

360o- 5.5
5 5 GPM

112

58

Wh l
i it ti
t
Wholezoneprecipitationrate
1.4 gp
gpm 4Q 5.6 gp
gpm
2.9 gpm 8 H 23.2 gpm
5.5 gpm 3F 16.5 gpm

5.6 23.2 16.5 45.3

112'58' 6496 ft 2

96.3 45.3
0.67" / hr.
6496 ft 2

R Ti
RunTime
Howmanyminuteswouldbeneededtoapply0.25?
o
a y
utes ou d be eeded to app y 0. 5 ?

60 min . hour

0.25"
hour
0.67"

60 min . ho ur

0.25" 22.4 min .

0.67"
ho ur

So,Whatistheprecipitationrate
for a baseball infield?
forabaseballinfield?
14 gpm
7 gpm

Each360o sprinklerhasaflowrateof14gpm
Spacingbetweensprinklersis80
Spacingbetweenrowsis80
Squarespacing?

96.3 14
0.21" / hour
iph
80 80
80

96.3 7
0.11" / hour
iph
80 80
80

Probably somewhere between these two values need to test

G
i i i
Grossprecipitationrates
Allidealvalues
dea va ues
noactualmeasureofrealdistribution
Allwaterisassumedtoreachtheturf
Pressureateachnozzleallasdesignedandallthesame
Differencesinnozzlepressurecanvaryiphsignificantly
Turfareacoveredbyanysprinklerorzoneassumed.
Alsobasedonidealoperatingpressure
Everysprinklerlevel&tograde
Allspacinginstalled/maintainedasdesigned

NetPrecipitation
Net

Measureoftheamountofwaterthat

actuallyreachesthelandscape.
Thenetprecipitationrateisthegross
precipitationrateminusthelossesthat
occurbetweenthesprinklerandthe
landscapesurface.
Therealdeal

How?
Usecatchmentdevicestodetermine

actualprecipitationrates

Determinetheprecipitation
ete
e t e p ec p tat o
rateofabaseballoutfield
Eachzonesurroundedbyotherzones
y
Spacing,pressureallvariable
Arcsmixed

Baseball Field Has both Triangle & Square

BaseballFieldHasbothTriangle&Square
spacing,fullandpartcirclearcs

How?
Arrangecatchcupsingridpattern
Usuallymeasurealong3rd baseline
Wanttohaveatleast3cupsbetweeneachsprinkler
For60headspacing,thecupswouldneedtobeabout
15 to19 apart
15to19apart

Thenumberofcupsuseddepends
ondesireddetail

Catch cup Grid

CatchcupGrid

Need ~250+
250+ cups

Startwithonezone
Ideal sprinkler coverage

O
t
f 15 20 i t
Operatezonefor1520minutes,ormore
More realistic coverage

Overlap coverage

Catchcupscoveredbysinglezone

Recordcatchvolumesfromsinglezone
Markcupsthatgetwaterfromthissinglezone
Identifyalladjacentzonesthatcontributewatertothisfirstzonearea
Operateeachadjacentzoneforthesametime usedonfirstzone
Recordcatchvaluesfromallotheradjacentzones

FirstAdjacentZone

S
d Adj
Z
SecondAdjacentZone

Thi d Adj
Z
ThirdAdjacentZone

F th Adj
tZ
FourthAdjacentZone

Fifth Adjacent Zone

FifthAdjacentZone

Sixth Adjacent Zone

SixthAdjacentZone

Whyincludeallsurroundingzones?
Justlikeallprecipitationratescoveredearlier.
lik ll
i i i

d li
Coverageneedstoadduptoanevenmultipleof360o

iftrulyheadtoheadspacing
iftrulyhead
to headspacing
Independentofwhetherspacingissquareortriangle

All
t ib ti
Allcontributingzones

4 360 1440
3 180 540
3 180 540
3 180 540

1180 180
11
180 180
1180 180
3600

360

Or, 10 full-arc sprinklers

Combineallcatchvolumes
Addcatchcupvaluestogether,cupbycup
Getaverage
Determineprecipitationrate
Then,REPEATwithallotherzones.
Forexample
Sta.#

IPH

0.71 0.81 0.57 0.71 0.59 0.65 0.56 0.46 0.59 0.66 0.71 0.59

10

11

12

S f
l
f
h
d
Surfaceplotofcatchcupdata

The reason for placing cups on a grid pattern

F tb ll fi ld ith i d
Footballfieldwithmixed
sprinkler spacing & arcs
sprinklerspacing&arcs

And now can include Calibration when

when
And,nowcanincludeCalibration
repairingtheseitemstoimproveDU
Misalignedsprinklers

Leaksinlateralsormain

Tiltedsprinklers

Incorrectpipesize

Improperpressure
Highorlow
N
i i kl
Nonrotatingsprinkler

Inadequateflow

Blockedspraypattern

Damagednozzles

Lowheaddrainage
L h dd i

Matchedprecipitation
h d
Atleastw/inzone
Mi db d
Mixedbrands

Missingsprinklers

i
Improperspacing
Cloggednozzles

Slowvalves
Mixednozzles

B
Benefitsofzonebyzonecalibration
fit f
b
lib ti
Applydesireddepthateachirrigationevent
pp y des ed dept at eac
gat o eve t
VerydifficulttodetermineIPHonbaseballfield
Donotrelyoncatalogiphvaluesforschedulingwhichcan
resultindeficitirrigation
IncreaseoverallDU&playerSafety

DU 75%
DU 54%
19% under-irrigated
g

<3% under-irrigated
g

ThankYou