Basin irrigation design with longitudinal slope

The aims of this paper are to analyze theoretically the influence of the longitudinal slope of a surface irrigation field on the uniformity of irrigation and to provide practical tools to design, analyze and manage surface irrigation systems with longitudinal slope and blocked end. An example is shown where a 20% savings in water is obtained by giving the field the optimal slope. In 1982, Clemmens and Dedrick published a practical set of dimensionless graphs to level-basin design and analysis (with no slope). This article generalizes those graphs taking account the existence of field slope. So, Clemmens and Dedrickʹs graphs are a particular case of obtained results. The analysis is based on solving one-dimensional free surface Saint-Venant equations including infiltration, applying the dimensional analysis to reduce the number of variables involved. Saint-Venant equations are solved with the finite differences method, applying the full hydrodynamic model and the zero-inertia model. Two computer programs are used: WinSRFR and POZAL (a specific software that calculates the optimal cutoff time). The result is a set of three-dimensional graphs that show the relationships of field slope, irrigation uniformity and the rest of the involved dimensionless variables, related to infiltration parameters, Manning roughness coefficient, cutoff time, inflow rate and field length and width. The graphs could be useful in practice to determine the optimal slope of a field, the inflow rate or the length and width of a field, achieving substantial savings of water in surface irrigation.