Impact of different patterns of emitter clogging on hydraulic characteristics of microirrigation laterals laid on flat and sloped terrains

A field experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of different numbers and locations of clogged emitters on the hydraulics of a microirrigation system installed on flat and sloped terrains. The results obtained were compared with the theoretical results calculated using a computer program. The emitter flow variation, head loss, pressure variation, coefficient of uniformity, field emission uniformity, distribution uniformity, statistical uniformity of the emitter discharge, emitter statistical uniformity due to hydraulics, application efficiency, emitter discharge coefficient of variation, hydraulic design coefficient of variation, emitter discharge coefficient of variation due to hydraulics, and emitter performance coefficient of variation were evaluated. Five different slopes were used to examine eight different patterns (stage 1 to 8) of emitter clogging along the laterals.;On the basis of the results obtained from this study, when 10%, or more of total number of emitters are partially clogged, the uniformities ;A computer simulation program based on the solution of fundamental hydraulics relationship was constructed to simulate the effect of different patterns of clogged emitters on the hydraulics of a microirrigation system. In all slopes and stages studied, the computed results did not deviate more than ;Based on field and synthetic data, the effects of different patterns of clogged emitters on reduction of crop yields (cotton yield in this study) were simulated and the farmer's loss was estimated. It was found that the reduction of crop yields was directly related to the number and degree of clogged emitters in different slopes.;The effect of variation of air and water temperatures on hydraulic characteristics of emitters were examined. Results show that there were no significant differences in emitter flow rate along the lateral under various temperatures at the experimental site.;The effects of injecting (using the venturi injector) water with different degrees of salinity on the emitter's hydraulic characteristics were studied. Two different cases were evaluated: (1) to maintain a constant value of electrical conductivity (EC) at the emitter's outlet and (2) a constant EC value of the injecting saline water was maintained and the EC variation at the emitter outlet. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)...