VELOCITY MEASUREMENT BY VARIOUS APPROACHES IN AN IRRIGATION CANAL

M.N. RACHANA¹, G.V. SRINIVASA REDDY², ANANDA KUMAR³*, M. NEMICHANDRAPPA^4
1College of Agricultural Engineering, University of Agricultural Sciences, Raichur, 584104, Karnataka, India
²College of Agricultural Engineering, University of Agricultural Sciences, Raichur, 584104, Karnataka, India
³College of Agricultural Engineering, University of Agricultural Sciences, Raichur, 584104, Karnataka, India
⁴College of Agricultural Engineering, University of Agricultural Sciences, Raichur, 584104, Karnataka, India
* Corresponding Author : anandk624@gmail.com

Received : 07-09-2018     Accepted : 26-09-2018     Published : 30-09-2018
Volume : 10     Issue : 18       Pages : 7159 - 7162
Int J Agr Sci 10.18 (2018):7159-7162

Keywords : Velocity measurement, Canal discharge, Current meter
Conflict of Interest : None declared
Acknowledgements/Funding : Author thankful to College of Agricultural Engineering, University of Agricultural Sciences, Raichur, 584104, Karnataka, India
Author Contribution : All author equally contributed

Water is the most valuable asset for irrigated agriculture. Water plays an important role in achieving maximum production of agriculture produce to feed the growing population. Judicious use of water in agriculture is gaining more and more importance and an accurate measurement of irrigation water permits an intelligent use of this valuable natural resource in an effective manner. In general, empirical equations are often applied to estimate mean velocity and discharge in irrigation canals. However, few real time measurement of velocity by various approaches is also possible and would be more appropriate in estimating velocity of water. In this study, various field methods were compared in finding out velocity of water. After getting accurate velocity, the discharge of any canal can be worked out by Area-Velocity approach to find discharge rates. In the present study, three different types of current meters (Universal, propeller and cup type) and different floating materials (apple, tomato, citrus, chilli, wooden piece and ball) were used for measurement of velocity in open canal. The percentage deviation of velocity either towards higher side or lower side in comparison to propeller type current meter was found out, since propeller type current meters are quite popular for open channel flow measurement. The results indicated that, in comparison to velocity obtained by propeller type current meter, the variation of 8.7 percent (higher side) was obtained by universal current meter and variation of 8.9 percent (lower side) by cup type current meter. Among the different types of floating materials, apple, tomato citrus, ball, chilli and wooden piece exhibited 2.4, 3.1, 3.9, 5.4, 6.1 and 8.6 percent (lower side) deviation of velocity respectively in comparison to propeller type current meter. The velocity variation in terms of percentage by various approaches was observed to be within 10 percent, which can be reliable for practical use under the situations where sophisticated instruments are not available for accurate measurement of velocity in canals.

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