Exercise-chapter-2

Exercise-Irrigation Structures

A project on Design discharge determination, horizontal alignment of Irrigation system

and TU, vertical alignment of irrigation and drainage canals and design of canals.

A preliminary layout and design of a new irrigation system has to be carried out. The
following general information and specific data are given regarding the irrigation and
drainage system to be implemented. In this exercise, each group is supposed to prepare a
report on the required aspects of the new irrigation system and specify some of the design
parameters as requested. Each group should prepare and submit a report of about 12 to 15
pages explaining the general aspects, some specific considerations to made in the
exercise and giving the design specifications of the requested problems. The layout,
longitudinal profiles and designed canal sections should also be attached to the report.
Each group will present its work 8 to 10 days after the delivery of the exercises to the
students. Each group member should seriously take part in the work and this will be
checked out during the presentation. Five groups of students will be formed by the
instructor.

Genera information

1. Water source: The source of water for the irrigation system is a river flowing
along the west and north periphery of the command area.
2. Command area: The topographic map of the command area and near the river is
given.
3. Principle for horizontal layout: Irrigation canals are placed on the higher areas
and drainage canals on the lower ground. Irrigation and drainage canals should
not cross each other.
4. Vertical alignment and water levels: The ground elevation along the alignment
can be found from the topographic map. Recommended longitudinal slopes for
canals have to be determined based on the discharge of the canals and topography.
Minimum required water levels in supply secondary canals at each tertiary off-
take have to be determined in irrigation canal taking into consideration the heads
required at structures for modular flow and the distance of the highest point to be
irrigated within a tertiary unit. Similarly, the maximum water level in drainage
canals to drain the maximum point in the tertiary unit has to be determined.
5. Canal drops: Whenever the OGS slope is steeper than the slope of the canal,
canal falls/drops are provided at appropriate locations in irrigation and drainage
canals.
6. Canal design: Irrigation and drainage canals can be assumed to be aligned on a
non-erodible soil (cohesive medium soil). All canals will be unlined canals. The
canals of the main irrigation system have to be designed for continuous flow in
the system. The individual fields within a tertiary unit shall be supplied either
continuous or rotational basis. However, you have to workout a schedule on how
you are going to supply each field.

By: Zeleke A. 1
Exercise-chapter-2

7. Area allocation for crops and shape of TU: Of the total number of tertiary units
in each group, half of the units are for one crop and the remaining half is for
another crop as specified. (If no. of TU=10, 5 TU for one crop and 5 for another
crop). The shape of tertiary units whenever possible should be kept nearly square;
very long TU have to be avoided.
8. Soil: The soil is sandy loam with readily available moisture (RAM) of 70 mm/m
of root zone depth. Total RAM= Rootzone depth*RAM/m.

Specific data for each group

The data pertaining to each group is shown in the following table.

Water Size Size of Q that can be

Group Rootzone
Crops requirement of TU farms, handled by one
No. depth, m
, mm/day , ha ha person, l/s
Maize 0.6 5.0
1 40 5 30
Fruits 1.3 4.0
Cotton 1.2 5.5
2 45 5 30
Vegetables 0.3 3.5
Sugarcane 1.2 6.0
3 50 6 30
Fruits 1.3 4.0
Wheat 0.3 4.5
4 55 6 30
Vegetables 0.3 3.5
Maize 0.6 5.0
5 60 6 30
Vegetables 0.3 3.5

Expected outputs from the exercise

1. Choose an intake and outfall site from and to the river and make a preliminary
layout of all irrigation and drainage canals on the command area. On the layout
show the naming of canals and drains (such as MC1, SC1, SC2, MD1, MD2 etc).
2. Workout a layout of the tertiary units. Make sure that each tertiary unit has access
to irrigation water from canals and that each TU has access to drainage canals for
excess water removal.
3. Determine the tertiary unit discharge for each crop based on whether each field
(farm) is supplied on rotational or continuous basis. Prepare a delivery schedule
for each farm within a tertiary unit in case you applied rotational supply.

By: Zeleke A. 2
Exercise-chapter-2

4. Choose one secondary canal which supplies at least 4 tertiary off-takes and
determine the design discharge of each reach of secondary canal.
5. Draw a longitudinal profile of the secondary supply canal you have chosen in Q4
above on appropriate paper. Use different appropriate vertical and horizontal
scales in the profile. First draw the OGS from the map. Then, determine the
minimum required water levels in the supply canal at each tertiary off-take and
then draw the design water levels of each reach of a canal.
6. Design the cross section of each reach of the supply (secondary canal) you have
hosen based on an appropriate approach. Show the cross section.
7. On the longitudinal profile of Q5 above, draw the design bed level. Note that the
bed level of the canal must be below the OGS all along the canal. On the profile,
show also the location of each off-take and drop structure. On the same profile,
show at the bottom all the parameters related to that reach of a canal such as Q, S,
b/d etc.
8. Choose one drain canal which at least drains 3 tertiary units and draw the
longitudinal profile. At each tertiary outfall determine the maximum water levels
in the drain to sufficiently drain the highest point in each TU. The design water
level at the highest point should be at least 0.3m below the rootzone of the crop.
Moreover, in drain canals the design water level should be lower than the OGS all
along the drain.
Design also the cross section of each reach of the drain: (The drain canals are to
be designed to remove excess irrigation water of 2mm/d plus excess rainfall of
8mm/d = 10mm/day).

By: Zeleke A. 3