The design and evaluation of travelling gun irrigation systems: enrolador software

Travelling gun irrigation systems offer great mobility and operation flexibility with a low investment cost per unit of irrigated area. However, the drawbacks include high operating pressure, low application efficiency, and high rainfall, runoff and erosion. Many of these problems can be minimized if the design and operation of travelling gun irrigation systems are carried out carefully, taking into account several design criteria that will ensure the quality of the irrigation performed by the system. The Enrolador software was developed to meet this goal. The software designs the travelling gun irrigation system, performs its simulation and its performance evaluation. This software was experimentally applied in the Alentejo region, Portugal. The design flow rates were computed for maize and sunflower crops with the soil water balance model IrrigRotation, considering a probability of non-exceedance of 75%. Meteorological data from the Evora weather station for the years 1961 to 1990 were used. Five plots with 3, 6, 9, 12 and 15 ha were chosen for the design of the irrigation systems using the software. The Enrolador software was used to select the equipment (gun, hose and reel) and the appropriate operating parameters for each plot. This software allows for the selection of the equipment that best meets the design criteria.