TP drainage

Steady state flow

Exercice 1
a) Calculate the spacing between pipe drains (L) for a steady state flow (q) of 7 mm/day and
for one of these crops (see table below). The saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ks) of the soil
is 2 m/day and an impermeable layer is found 5 m below the surface. Local constraints
prevent you from putting the drains lower than 1.5 m.

b) Calculate the output flow (Q) and suitable diameter () of the lateral drains of your
installation, knowing that they are ribbed and placed in a parallel network. Their slope (i) is
equal to 0.1 % and they are 150 m long.

c) Calculate the diameter () of the smooth collector drains, knowing that each collector
drains an area of 20 ha and are placed with a 0.5 % slope.

Take into account a potential loss of capacity of the drains over time due to sedimentation:
50 % for lateral drains and 25 % for collector drains.

Desired depth of
Crop
water table H [m]
Meadow 0.4
Clover 0.5
Potato 0.6
Maize 0.7
Beetroot 0.8
Sunflower 0.9
Sorghum 1.0

1
 Transient flow
Exercice 2

De Zeeuw & Hellinga

The table below shows the rainfall and the daily ET for a 10 days period during the month of
November. Pipe drains are installed at 1.2 m depth with a 40 m spacing following a parallel
scheme. The value of K * d is about 2.5 m2/day and the drainable porosity is 0.05. The
impermeable layer is situated 5 m below the soil surface.

At the beginning of the period, the groundwater depth halfway between two drains is 1.1 m
below the surface. The soil has a storage capacity of 15 mm of rainfall before reaching field
capacity. Calculate the fluctuation of the groundwater level during this 10 days period and
the water flow at the output of the drains for a drain length of 200m. Illustrate with a graph.

Day Rainfall [mm] ET [mm]

1 20 1

2 20 1

3 10 2

4 25 1
5 5 2

6 0 2
7 0 2

8 0 2

9 0 2

10 0 2