Pressurized (Sprinkler) Irrigation II

EiT-M, School of Civil Engineering, IEC

November, 2024
1.Basics on sprinkler irrigation system
Contents

• Definition of sprinkler irrigation system

• Principles of operation of sprinkler irrigation system

• Benefits and limitations of sprinkler irrigation system

• History and development of sprinkler irrigation system

• Current status of sprinkler irrigation system and its prospects in Ethiopia

• Types of sprinkler irrigation system

• Components of sprinkler irrigation system

Objectives
• At the end of the chapter, you will:

• Be familiarized with the benefits and limitations of sprinkler irrigation systems

• Understand history and development of sprinkler irrigation systems

• Understand current status and prospects of sprinkler irrigation systems in Ethiopia

• Understand different types of sprinkler irrigation systems and basic components for
each system
Definition of sprinkler irrigation system
• Sprinkler irrigation is a system in
which water is applied to crops
above the ground in the form of
sprays, somewhat resembling rainfall
(Fig.1).
• It requires a pumping device to
drive water from the source to the
field.
• The system can also be pressurized
by gravity, if sufficient head is
available
Fig. 1: Sprinkler irrigation system
Principles of operation of sprinkler irrigation system
• In sprinkler irrigation system, water is conveyed from the source to the field by network of
pipes.
• Water source → pump → pipe network → sprinkler nozzles.
• Depending upon the level of debris in the water, additional component such as water filter
is required
• The spray of water is done by the sprinkler nozzles with the help of the pressure created in
the system...\Video\Sprinkler Irrigation installation guide new(1080P_HD).mp4
Benefits and limitations of sprinkler irrigation system
Benefits of the system

• The major benefits of using sprinkler irrigation system are:

• It can be applied on irregular topography and steep slopes of up to 20% that cannot be
irrigated by surface irrigation without producing runoff or erosion.

• It can be used on soils with low water holding capacity such as sandy soils which is
difficult under surface irrigation due to high infiltration rate.

• Labor requirement is less.

• It is suited to irrigate most row, field and tree crops

• It delivers water uniformly throughout the field and at high water use efficiency.

• The system is also known to modify the micro climate (hot and freezing conditions)
Benefits and limitations of sprinkler irrigation system
Limitations

• Although sprinkler system has many benefits, it has the following limitations:

• System installation cost is relatively high.

• Water is easily drifted away under high wind conditions.

• Since the whole area is wetted, it promotes weed growth.

• Extra cost of the energy consumed for creation of water pressure.

• Overhead application may induce leaf diseases as some crops are sensitive to wet
conditions.

• As sprinkler nozzles are small, it might be blocked by suspended sediments.

• For irregular shaped fields, spacing of sprinklers is very inconvenient

History and development of sprinkler irrigation system
• Sprinkler irrigation technology was introduced in the early years of the twentieth century.
• Many areas of the world developed salinity problems due to unplanned and uncontrolled
surface irrigation.
• However, after Second World War due to development of plastics, innovation of light
aluminum pipes, efficient pumps and electric motor, remarkable development in sprinkler
took place.
• This technology has become very popular in western countries particularly in Europe and
U.S.A., since 1967. At the end of 1970, about 2.5 million ha area was irrigated with sprinkler
in Europe and more than 3 million ha in U.S.A.
• The concept of sprinkler irrigation has gathered momentum in the recent past because of two
important factors:
• Impact of climate change resulting in unpredictable showers and long periods of drought
• Non availability of labor.
Current status of sprinkler irrigation system and its prospects in Ethiopia
Current status
• There are no well-organized and nationally accepted data on the current sprinkler system practice in
Ethiopia.
• The system is known to be used:
• Around Ziway for the growing of horticultural crops
• Fincha for sugar plantation
• Wolenchiti for sugar plantation under Wonji-Shoa sugar factory.
• Sunuta area, Ewa woreda, Afar regional state
• Alaydege in Afar regional state (detail design done for development of 2700ha)
• Siti zone Harawa and Kulen area in Somali Regional State.
• Welkayt Sugar factory
• Tanabeles Irrigation project
• Kobo and Raya Irrigation project (alternative sprinkler and drip irrigation systems)
Current status of sprinkler irrigation system and its prospects in Ethiopia
Future prospects
• Conditions to facilitate the development of sprinkler irrigation in Ethiopia are:
• The undulating topography of wide arable areas of the country,
• Marginal soils of peripheral regions of the country
• Shallow soils with low water holding capacity at the arid and semi-arid regions
• Increasing demand for improved utilization of water due to sever water shortage
• Intensification and diversification of production in time of climate change
• Underperformance of existing surface irrigation schemes
• Growing hydropower generation which give sufficient power for pump and system
operation
Current status of sprinkler irrigation system and its prospects in Ethiopia
• The major bottlenecks are:
• No or little domestic production of system components: pumps, quick couplers, light
weight pipes, hose etc.
• Individual farmers cannot afford the installation costs.
• Poor infrastructure and marketing which could support production of paying perishable
crops and vegetables for export and domestic consumption.
• Lack of skilled manpower for project identification, planning, design and
implementation.
Types of sprinkler irrigation system
Sprinkler irrigation system
Based on the arrangement for spraying water

Rotating head sprinkler system Perforated sprinkler system

Based on movement

Solid set system Set move system Continuous move system

Hand move Side roll Traveling Continuous move Linear move

Types of sprinkler irrigation system
Based on the arrangement for spraying water

Perforated pipe sprinkler system • It consists of holes perforated in the lateral

irrigation pipe in a specially designed pattern
to distribute water fairly uniformly (Fig. 2).
• It is usually designed for low operating
pressure.
• The system is generally suited to coarse
textured soils because of its high water
application rates.
• Clean water is required to prevent clogging of
the small perforations.
• This system is suitable for lawn, garden and
Fig. 2: Perforated pipe sprinkler system small vegetables.
Types of sprinkler irrigation system
Based on the arrangement for spraying water

Rotating head sprinkler system

• Small size nozzles are placed on riser pipes fixed
at uniform intervals along the length of lateral
pipe (Fig. 3) .
• The sprinkler heads mounted on the risers which
are above the crop height are rotated through 900
to irrigate a rectangular strip.
• In rotating type sprinklers, the most common
device to rotate the sprinkler heads is a small
hammer activated by the thrust of the water
striking against a vane connected to it
Fig. 3: Rotating head sprinkler system
Types of sprinkler irrigation system
Based on movement
• Based on movement, rotating head sprinkler systems may be divided into:
• Solid set system: It has sufficient laterals and sprinkler heads to irrigate entire field
simultaneously. The laterals are laid in the field early in the crop season and remain for
the entire season.
• Set move sprinkler systems: This system can be moved from one set position to another
set manually or mechanically.
• These systems remain stationary as long as water is applied, then system is shutoff, the
sprinkler laterals are drained and moved to the next set position repeatedly until the
entire field has been irrigated.
• Continuous move systems: Systems that operate while the sprinkler is moving through
the field.
Types of sprinkler irrigation system
Hand move lateral system
• In this system:
• Laterals are manually moved from one position to another (Fig. 4).
• Each lateral is transferred several times to different positions during the irrigation cycle.
• This system is used to irrigate more area than any other type of set move system.
• Comparatively, the initial investment on hand move system is not high but the labor cost
is more.
• It is usually applied:
• In small plots of field crops, vegetables and orchards,
• In fields that are not suitable for mechanized irrigation,
• When solid set systems are beyond owner’s financial capacity
Types of sprinkler irrigation system
Hand move lateral system, cont’d
• Work time for hand move lateral system include irrigation time and moving time.
Irrigation time
• The length of time in a position is called irrigation set time.
Equipment movement time
• The time needed for moving the equipment depends on the distance between the former
place and the latter one, the velocity of disassemble and fix of the pipe set and the number
of sets.
• Because the area of the filed is small and equipments are not many and the time of moving
is less than irrigation time, in a perfect design, the equipment should be moved as less as
possible.
Types of sprinkler irrigation system
Hand move lateral system, cont’d

Fig. 4: Layout of hand move sprinkler system

Types of sprinkler irrigation system
Side roll sprinkler system

• It consists of lateral mounted on wheels

and the lateral is also acting as the axle for
the wheels (Fig. 5).
• It uses motorized units to roll the lateral
which are mounted in middle or at ends
• The system is best adapted for rectangular
fields
• It involves higher capital investment but
the labor requirement is less.
Fig. 5: Side roll sprinkler system
Types of sprinkler irrigation system
Solid set sprinkler systems
• A solid set sprinkler system has enough
lateral pipes and sprinkler heads so that
none of the laterals need to be moved
for irrigation purposes after being
placed in the field (Fig. 6)
• To irrigate the field, the sprinklers (or
laterals) need only to be cycled on and
off.
• Solid-set systems save lab or , a r e
conveniently operated and are
Fig. 6: Solid set sprinkler systems compatible with all the types of
automatic control systems.
Types of sprinkler irrigation system
Traveling sprinkler

• Travelling sprinkler or traveler, is high

capacity sprinkler fed with water through a
flexible hose; it is mounted on a self-
powered chassis and travels along a
straight line while watering (Fig. 7).
• The sprinkler is mounted on a moving
vehicle and wets a diameter of more than
120 m.
• Traveling sprinklers require the highest
pressure of any system..\Video\Big Gun
Irrigation_(1280x720).MP4
Fig. 7: Mobile rain gun sprinkler system
Types of sprinkler irrigation system
Center-pivot system

• Center-pivot system consists of a

pipeline rotating around a pivot
point and supported by a large
number of self-propelled towers
(Fig. 8).
• Water is supplied at the pivot point
and flows outward through pipeline
and is distributed through rotating
sprinklers located on the pipeline at
regular intervals..\Video\Center
Pivot.mp4

Fig. 8: Centre pivot system

Types of sprinkler irrigation system
Linear move system

• Linear move system combine the structure

and guidance system of a center-pivot
lateral with a traveling water feed system
similar to a traveling sprinkler.
• For efficient operation, linear moving
laterals require rectangular field free from
obstructions.
• A major disadvantage of linear moving
lateral systems, compared with center-
pivot systems, is the problem of bringing
the lateral back to the starting position
Fig. 9: Linear move system
Components of a set move sprinkler irrigation system
• Following are the components of a set
move sprinkler irrigation system
• Pump
• Pipes and fittings,
• Sprinkler heads
• Valves,
• Booster pumps
• Desilting basins and debris screen

Fig. 10: Components of a set move sprinkler systems

Components of a set move sprinkler irrigation system
Pump

• Pump is used for pressurizing water and to

release as a jet through sprinklers
• The pump should be designed to lift the
required amount of water from the source of
supply to the highest point in the field and
maintain an adequate operating pressure.
• At the exit of the sprinkler around 20 – 70 m
pressure head is needed to be provided by the
pump.
Fig. 11: A typical pump installation in a well
Components of a set move sprinkler irrigation system
Pipes
• It comprises generally of three types: main, submain and laterals.
• Main line is the pipe section leading to the field from the pump, while lateral lines are the
pipe section installed in the field.
• In the lateral line, sprinklers are installed in between the pipes (Fig. 10)
• Pipes in sprinkler irrigation system may be aluminum or high density polyethylene (HDPE)
pipes
• As HDPE pipes are cheaper than aluminum pipes, they are increasingly being used
nowadays.
• Pipe strengths are specified using maximum pressure which the pipe can withstand
• There are four pressure ratings in which the pipes are available in the market (0.25 MPa,
0.32 MPa, 0.4 MPa, 0.6 MPa)
Components of a set move sprinkler irrigation system
Pipe Fittings

• Different pipe fittings used in sprinkler

irrigation system are shown in Figure 12.

• End caps: are used for closing the end

of pipes

• Tee: is used for dividing a supply line

into two branches

• Saddle: a fitting in which a sprinkler

with riser pipe is fixed on. It has a
threaded provision for connecting to
the riser pipes
Fig. 12: Pipe fittings
Components of a set move sprinkler irrigation system
Riser pipe/drop tube

• Riser pipes attach the sprinkler to the lateral and

raise heads above the crop (Fig. 13) so that the
crop does not interfere with the spray, which
distorts the spray pattern.

• Drop tubes are used on center-pivot or linear move

systems to lower the sprinkler heads below the
lateral, but above the crop. This is often done to
reduce wind drift.

Fig. 13: Riser pipe

Components of a set move sprinkler irrigation system
Sprinkler head • It is a device with a nozzle mounted on a short riser
pipe to spray water onto the field (Fig. 14)
• They are usually rotating type with two-nozzle heads
(long and short range).
• The long-range nozzle is to irrigate at long
distance from the sprinkler and the short-range
nozzle is to apply water to the area under and
near the sprinkler.
• Sprinklers are available in various nozzle sizes, flow
discharges, operating pressures and wetted diameters.
• Most agricultural sprinklers have a hammer-drive
slow-rotating or revolving mechanism and use a low
Fig. 14: Sprinkler head
(<2.0 bars) to medium operating pressure (2.0-4.0
bars).
Components of a set move sprinkler irrigation system
Types of sprinkler heads
• Based on the method they use to distribute
the water, sprinkler heads are grouped into:
• Spray type sprinklers: small heads that
spray a fan-shaped pattern of water and that
operate at low pressures (less than 210 kPa)
are currently available for center-pivot and
linear-move irrigation systems.
• Rotating sprinklers head: these sprinklers
operate by rotating streams of water back
and forth or in circles over the landscape.
Examples: impact sprinklers, gear driven
Fig. 15: Types of sprinkler heads sprinklers, reaction sprinklers
Components of a set move sprinkler irrigation system
Impact sprinklers
• Impact sprinklers have one or more nozzles
that discharge jets of water into the air.
• These jets are rotated in a start and stop
manner as a spring-loaded arm strikes
(impacts) and then is bounded out of one of the
jets.
• The spring returns the arm to strike the jet
again and the process is repeated.
• Several different nozzle types have been
developed for impact sprinklers: constant-
diameter, constant discharge, and diffuse-jet
nozzles (Fig. 16).
Fig. 16: Typical jets from impact sprinklers
with (a) Diffuse jet nozzle, and (b) Constant • Constant-diameter nozzles are the most
diameter nozzle common type of nozzles
Components of a set move sprinkler irrigation system
Gear driven sprinklers
• Driven by a small water turbine located in the base of the sprinkler.
• Gear-driven sprinklers have one or more jets that rotate around the vertical axis of the
sprinkler.
• Gear-driven rotors are one of the most commonly used sprinkler heads for medium to large
scale sprinkler systems.
• Their low cost, quiet operation, and versatility are a few of the advantages that gear-driven
rotors have over impact rotors.
• They typically require less maintenance because the enclosed body design prevents clogging
of the drive mechanism from dirt and other debris.
Components of a set move sprinkler irrigation system
Valves
• There are many types of valves used in sprinkler and drip irrigation systems.
• Control valve
• Air/vacuum valve
• Non-return valve
• Pressure relief valve
Components of a set move sprinkler irrigation system
Control valves
• Control valves in sprinkler and drip irrigation systems are used for allowing or shutting off
water along any pipeline.
• There are three types of control valves:
1. Ball valve
2. Gate valve
3. Butterfly valve
• A rotating ball inside the valve controls the flow in ball valve.
• In gate valve, a gate controls the flow whereas butterfly valve uses a rotating disc to control
the water flow.
Components of a set move sprinkler irrigation system
Air release/vacuum breaker valves
• Air valves have a moving float
inside (Fig. 17).
• When the water is flowing with
pressure, the float is raised in such
a way that the water does not go
out.
• When pressure drops, the float
comes down and a passage for air
flow is created.
• This valve is to be provided at the
Fig. 17: Air release valve location of the highest elevation of
the pipe system.
Components of a set move sprinkler irrigation system
Non-return valve
• Non-return valves allow the flow to pass through in only one direction.
• When flow direction is reversed, the non-return valve closes.
• This valve is very important when fertigation and chemical application through irrigation
water are done. Otherwise back flow may cause pollution of water source.
• Non-return valves fixed close to pump on delivery line also help prevent water hammer on
pump components.
Components of a set move sprinkler irrigation system
Pressure relief valve
• Since sprinkler irrigation works with a higher pressure, there are
many possibilities of pressure development beyond the limits in
the pipe system. Hence it is advisable to provide a pressure relief
valve downstream of non-return valve.
• Pressure relief valve is also provided at the upstream of the last
outlet/hydrant.
• Figure 18 provides a line sketch showing components of a
pressure relief valve.
• A spring-loaded adjusting screw is fixed over a plunger and a
rubber diaphragm.
• When pressure inside the pipe increases beyond the pressure
caused due to spring load, the spring is lifted up. Then water from
the pipe is released through the discharge passage.
Fig. 18: Pressure relief valve