Land Reclamation Works

Specialization / Direction

Knowledge Deepening / Consolidation

The scope of the course is: the complete design and dimensioning of an individual irrigation and drainage network, the understanding of the different irrigation systems (sprinkler, drip), the determination of the water needs of crops, the determination of critical soil characteristics, the planning of irrigation, the determination of total losses (linear and local) as well as the required manometric load for supplying the irrigation network, the understanding of different drainage systems, the removal of excess soil water by finding the equidistance of tubular drainage pipes through a variety of methods under conditions of permanent and non-permanent water movement, the determination of economic diameters for the individual irrigation and drainage network, the design of the technical works of the networks, the rational management of soil water resources. Knowledge The course specializes the students in ensuring the desired amount of available water in the soil to meet irrigation needs as well as the removal of excess water in a short period of time to protect crops. The course constitutes an important pillar of knowledge of the Agricultural and Surveying Engineer, providing the student with a wide range of scientific and technical skills, important supplies for both postgraduate studies and a successful future career in the field as an engineer. Upon completion of the course, students should be able to: • Have complete knowledge of land reclamation projects and the basic principles that govern them • ​​Have complete knowledge of the technological equipment required for the construction of an individual irrigation network (sprinkler, drip) under-pressure, such as a pumping station, distribution and application lines, pipes, sprinklers, filters, drippers, etc. • Have complete knowledge of the technological equipment required for the construction of a drainage network at field level, such as drainage pipes (smooth, corrugated), placement excavators, etc. • Characterize a soil in terms of its mechanical composition based on granulometric sample analysis • Calculate the water needs of crops and prepare a detailed irrigation schedule. Finding reference evapotranspiration and crop (Blaney-Criddle, Penman, etc.), soil infiltration, irrigation width, irrigation duration, artificial rainfall intensity, etc. • Calculate the required number of sprinklers and drippers as well as the necessary application lines for the efficient operation of the network • Apply methods for calculating the design flow (e.g. ideal flow method) of the irrigation network (sprinkler, drip), calculating head losses (Darcy Weisbach, Hazen Williams) and finding the required head at the beginning of the arrangement. • Calculate the hydraulic conductivity depending on the soil characteristics. • Use Darcy's fundamental Law for the needs of drainage networks and calculate the height of the well surface between drainage pipes • Calculate the equilibria of drainage pipes in both the case of permanent and non-permanent water movement as well as under stratified soil conditions • Calculate the economic diameters (trade diameters) of the irrigation and drainage network. • Design a complete pressurized individual irrigation network (pipes, pumps, control centers, etc.) with both sprinkler and drip irrigation, depending on the topography of the plot and the soil/climatic conditions. • Design and fully map a drainage network at farm level. Skills After completing the course, the students will possess advanced skills in processing, analyzing and solving complex problems in the science of hydraulic engineering related to: • Land Reclamation Projects and the protection of soil water resources • Efficient irrigation and drainage networks at the farm level • The determination and calculation of critical hydraulic parameters Abilities After completing the course, the students will be able to fully grasp the design, operation, management and study of an irrigation and drainage network at the field level. In particular, students will be able to: • Calculate the needs of irrigation water at the farm level • Calculate the equidistance of drainage pipes for the needs of removing excess water • Fully design an irrigation and drainage network at the farm level

The course includes: Introduction, historical review and presentation of the methodological framework of irrigation and drainage networks, soil and water interactions, crop water needs and the importance of evapotranspiration in irrigation, calculation of critical soil and hydraulic parameters, finding natural soil constants such as field capacity, available soil moisture, permanent wilting point and more, calculation of infiltration rate and soil texture, calculation of crop water needs, calculation of reference and crop evapotranspiration (Blanney-Criddle, Penman) as well as the irrigation dose, duration and range, Sprinkler irrigation. Method presentation (advantages-disadvantages), main and secondary pipeline layouts, ideal discharge method, Presentation and practical application of the Darcy-Weisbach and Hazen-Williams head loss methods, design of a sprinkler irrigation network at a parcel level preparation of a detailed irrigation planning, finding the required number of sprinkler, the necessary main and secondary pipelines, discharges, head losses, pipe diameters, manometric head, drip irrigation, method presentation (advantages-disadvantages), pipeline layouts, dripper layouts, technological/mechanical equipment, design of drip irrigation network at a parcel level, finding the required number of drippers per plant, optimal pipeline layout depending on the crop, discharges, head losses, pipe diameters, manometric head and filters, special cases in Dracy’s Law and scope for drainage network needs, detailed presentation of the concept of hydraulic conductivity (homogeneity and anisotropy), calculation using Dracy’s Law and the Kozeny-Carman model for different water temperatures as well as for cases of stratified soils, presentation of the steady water flow, calculation of the drain spacing for the case of steady water flow. Application of the Donnan, Houghoudt, and equivalent depth methods.  Presentation of the unsteady water flow, calculation of the drain spacing for the case of unsteady water flow. Application of the Glover, US Land Reclamation Service and approximation method with the Third linearization methods, drainage network design at a parcel level and hydraulic calculation of drains, construction works and drain filter covers.

Land Reclamation Works, Farm-level Irrigation Networks, Agricultural Drainage

28-01-2025