THE UNIVERSITY OF ZAMBIA

SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURAL ENGINEERING
2016/2017 ACADEMIC YEAR FINAL EXAMINATIONS

AEN 3412: SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION ENGINEERING

FRIDAY 15 SEPTEMBER 2017

TIME ALLOWED: THREE (3) HOURS

INSTRUCTIONS: ATTEMPT FIVE (5) QUESTIONS ONLY

ALL QUESTIONS CARRY EQUAL MARKS

QUESTION 1
Briefly define the following terms.
I. Soil and Water Conservation Engineering [2 marks]
II. Interflow [2 marks]
III. Percolation [2 marks]
IV. Infiltration [2 marks]
V. Reference evapotranspiration [2 marks]

b) Measured soil water content on volume basis in a tomato field is 19%. The field capacity
and permanent wilting point of the soil on volume basis are 25% and 9%, respectively.
I. What is the percent depletion of the soil? [4 marks]
II. If the MAD is 50%, at what water content must the next irrigation take place?

[6 marks]
QUESTION 2

a) Explain how presence of vegetation on soil reduces runoff volumes. [6 marks]

b) Define the following terms:
I. Soil water characteristic [2 marks]
II. Geological erosion [2 marks]
III. Soil texture [2 marks]
IV. Soil structure [2 marks]

c) Give three (3) reasons why it is important to control soil erosion? [6 marks]

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QUESTION 3

a) Assuming that the Horton infiltration Equation is valid, determine the infiltrated depth
after 4 hours if the initial infiltration rate at time t = 0 is 35 mm/h, the final steady-state
infiltration rate at large times is 10 mm/h and k = 12.5 h-1. [6 marks]
b) Compute the daily evaporation from a free water surface if the wind speed is 2.0 m/s at
0.15 m height, average water and air temperatures are both 27 °C, and the average relative
humidity of the air is 50%. Atmospheric pressure is 100 kPa. [10
marks]
c) For a Class A pan, estimate ETo for September 1. The measured evaporation from the pan
was 9 mm. The wind was 2.5 m/s and the average minimum relative humidity was 55%.
The pan is surrounded by 100 m of bare soil. [4 marks]

QUESTION 4

a) As a very good Agricultural Engineer, you are in charge of designing an earth waterway
system for GART in Chisamba. It will be long such that runoff will be much more towards
the outlet than at the upper portion. Explain how you will account for the increase in runoff
towards the outlet end if your design is to safely discharge at non–erosive velocity.
[6 marks]
b) Given a cross-sectional area of 1.86 m2, a depth of flow of 0.3 m, a channel slope of 4
percent, and a manning roughness coefficient of 0.04. Assume 4:1 side slopes for the
trapezoidal cross section. Determine the velocity of flow in:
I. A parabolic shaped waterway [4 marks]
II. A triangular shaped waterway [4 marks]
III. and a trapezoidal shaped waterway [4 marks]
IV. Which shape conveys water more efficiently [2 marks]

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QUESTION 5

a) Gully erosion maybe caused by the breakdown of a metastable equilibrium in a stream or

watercourse.

I. What is meant by metastable equilibrium? [2

marks]
II. Give two reasons that can cause the balance of a watercourse to be disturbed.
Give an example in both cases. [4
marks]
III. In Gully erosion control, give three reasons why the use of vegetation is more
preferred to structural measures. [3
marks]
b) Given a 200-m terrace on a 4 percent slope with a depth of flow of 30 cm and assuming
that the three slope widths are 4.3 m, a freeboard of 10 cm, and a balanced cross section
(cut = fill). Compute the following:
I. Cutslope and frontslope, [5 marks]
II. Cut volume and the fill volume [6 marks]

QUESTION 6

a) Differentiate between agronomic and mechanical methods of erosion control and give two
examples for both cases. [4 marks]
b) State the differences between the following:
I. Construction between channel terraces and retention terraces [2 marks]
II. Their usage for both water and soil conservation [2 marks]
c) Crop management is one of the ways by which wind erosion is controlled as it conserves
moisture and covers the soil surface from direct wind. What are the three processes in
which moisture conservation can be achieved? [3 marks]
d) Determine the spacing between windbreaks that are 16.5 m high if the 5-year return period
wind velocity at 15 m height is 16 m/s and the wind direction deviates 5 degrees from the
perpendicular to the field strip. Assume a smooth, bare soil surface and a fully protected
field. [5 marks]
e) A system of graded terraces for your present location (Zambia) is to be made parallel and
to be farmed with four-row-equipment 76 cm rows. To provide the nearest complete
rounds of travel for this equipment, what slope distance between terraces is needed if the
soil has a low intake rate and poor cover (take f = 6) and the land slope is 2 percent?
[4 marks]

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 USEFUL INFORMATION

17.27 T
−kt
f =f c + ( f 0−f c ) e e s ( T )=0.6108 e T+237.3 E=C ( e s −e a )

RH mean
e a= e (T ) C=( 3.30+1.973 U 0.15) ( 1.465−0.00548 P )
100 s mean

c + f =h+ sW log Z o=log h−0.09 log d =log h−0.15

d=17 h
Vm
V ( )
cosθ Vm = minimum wind velocity at 15 m-height required to move the most

erodible soil fraction (LT-1) = 9.6m/s

u z= ( uk ) ln [( z−d )/ z ¿ ]¿
¿
0

S+ f
VI = ; where f varies ¿ 3 ¿ 6 according ¿ the erodibility of the soil
2

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Table 1: Pan Coefficients Kpan for Class A Pan for Different Pan Siting and
Environment Conditions and Different levels of Mean Relative Humidity and Wind
Speed

Case A: Case B:
Pan Placed in Short Green Pan Placed in dry Fallow Area
Cropped Area
Distance RH (mean percent) Distance RH (mean percent)
a b
Wind (m) Low Mediu Hig Low Mediu Hig
speed < 40 m h (m) < 40 m h
(m/s) 40 to 70 > 70 40 to 70 > 70
Light 1 0.55 0.65 0.75 1 0.70 0.80 0.85
<2 10 0.65 0.75 0.85 10 0.60 0.70 0.80
100 0.70 0.80 0.85 100 0.55 0.65 0.75
1000 0.75 0.85 0.85 1000 0.50 0.60 0.70
Moderat 1 0.50 0.60 0.65 1 0.65 0.75 0.80
e 10 0.60 0.70 0.75 10 0.55 0.65 0.70
2 to 5 100 0.65 0.75 0.80 100 0.50 0.60 0.65
1000 0.70 0.80 0.80 1000 0.45 0.55 0.60
Strong 1 0.45 0.50 0.60 1 0.60 0.65 0.70
5 to 8 10 0.55 0.60 0.65 10 0.50 0.55 0.65
100 0.60 0.65 0.70 100 0.45 0.50 0.60
1000 0.65 0.70 0.75 1000 0.40 0.45 0.55
Very 1 0.40 0.45 0.50 1 0.50 0.60 0.65
strong 10 0.45 0.55 0.60 10 0.45 0.50 0.55
>8 100 0.50 0.60 0.65 100 0.40 0.45 0.50
1000 0.55 0.60 0.65 1000 0.35 0.40 0.45
[a]
Length of the green crop area upwind from the pan.
[b]
Length of dry fallow area upwind from the pan.

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