Head Loss in Thin-Walled Drip Tapes with Continuous Labyrinth

Abstract

Thin-walled drip tapes with continuous labyrinth have been used for irrigation of vegetables and other short-cycle crops, especially due to their low cost. The continuous labyrinths welded into the pipe inner wall affect the head loss along such emitting pipes. In addition, the flow cross section of thin-walled pipes may change due to the effects of the operating pressure, which also has consequences for the head loss. The objective of this work was to investigate experimentally the friction factor and the head loss on thin-walled drip tapes with continuous labyrinths operated under various pressures. Two models of commercial thin-walled drip tapes with continuous labyrinths were evaluated. Nonperforated samples were used to determine the head-loss equations. The equations were adjusted as a function of flow rate and pressure head at the pipe inlet. Alternatively, the diameter in the Darcy–Weisbach equation was adjusted as a function of the pressure head by a power-law model. The possibility of using a mean diameter in the Darcy–Weisbach equation was also analyzed. Experimental investigation indicated that the friction factor in the Darcy–Weisbach equation can be accurately described using a power-law model, like the Blasius equation, but characterized by a coefficient a=0.3442 for the Turbo Tape and a=0.3225 for the Silver Tape. The obtained values of a are larger than those generally used and available in the literature. The influence of the operating pressure on the pipe diameter can be neglected for the purpose of calculating the head loss. The two approaches, considering the variation of the diameter with the pressure head and considering an optimum average diameter for the calculation of head loss by the Darcy–Weisbach equation, produce similar results, allowing accurate prediction of head loss. Evaluating the proposed mathematical models, 95% of predictions presented relative errors of head loss smaller than 5%. For the Turbo Tape, the optimum diameter for the purpose of calculating the head loss is 16.01 mm, which is very close to the value indicated by its manufacturer (15.9 mm). For the Silver Drip, the optimum diameter is 15.71 mm, while the manufacturer gives a value of 16.22 mm, which produces considerable error in the calculation of head loss.

Discharge sensitivity of collapsible drip tapes to water temperature

“…The use of collapsible drip tapes with integrated emitters in the irrigation of short-cycle crops, specifically vegetables, has gained market share owing to their satisfactory performance and low cost (Melo et al, 2019). The emitter is a key component in drip irrigation systems (Zhengying et al, 2012), and its operational and performance characteristics can be influenced by imperfections in the manufacturing process, variations in the operating pressure, clogging problems, and fluctuations in the water temperature.…”

Ecuación determinística para el diseño hidráulico de sistemas de riego por salidas múltiples

“…En el diseño de sistemas de riego de multisalidas existe la necesidad de calcular las pérdidas de energía por fricción en tuberías (Pimenta et al, 2018) y determinar el diámetro más económico y óptimo (Espinosa et al, 2016;Melo et al, 2019). Está pérdida se debe a la fricción entre las partículas del fluido y la pared de la tubería (Nosrati et al, 2017), para ello existen las ecuaciones de Manning, Hanzen & Williams y Darcy & Wesbach.…”