Improvement of the estimation of the infiltration function in surface irrigation systems

PLoS One. 2023 Nov 16;18(11):e0291578. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0291578. eCollection 2023.

Abstract

Surface irrigation systems are widely used on the North China Plain. The design of surface irrigation systems can be improved by developing simulation models including the advanced trajectory, recession trajectory, and infiltration time. Therefore, the objectives of this study were as follows: (1) to evaluate different models to simulate the advanced and recession trajectories, (2) to propose a new method that reduces the required observation data for estimating the infiltration time, and (3) to evaluate the accuracy of the proposed infiltration function based on the modified infiltration time function. Field experiments were conducted. The results indicated that the power function can represent the advanced and recession trajectories well. A modified function that describes the infiltration time has a high correlation and accuracy with the measured data and can be used to estimate the infiltration time. The proposed infiltration function based on the modified infiltration time function is accurate and can be used to estimate the infiltration function.

MeSH terms

  • Agricultural Irrigation* / methods
  • China

Grants and funding

This work was financially supported by the Guangdong Science and Technology Plan Project (2019B121201004), Undergraduate Innovation Project of Shaoguan University (202010576002X), Guangdong Province Basic and Applied Basic Research Fund Project (2021A1515010851), Innovation Team Project of General Colleges and Universities in Guangdong Province (2020KCXTD037), Engineering Technology Center of General Universities in Guangdong Province (2021GCZX011). The funders had no role in study design, data collection, and analysis, the decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.