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Comparison between Clément's First Formula and Other Statistical Distributions in A Real Irrigation Network
Author(s) -
PérezSánchez Modesto,
Carrero Lina María,
SánchezRomero Francisco Javier,
Amparo LópezJiménez P.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
irrigation and drainage
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.421
H-Index - 38
eISSN - 1531-0361
pISSN - 1531-0353
DOI - 10.1002/ird.2233
Subject(s) - flow (mathematics) , irrigation , distribution (mathematics) , function (biology) , computer science , matlab , mathematical optimization , distribution uniformity , mathematics , statistics , mathematical analysis , ecology , materials science , geometry , evolutionary biology , composite material , biology , operating system
When irrigation pressurized systems are designed on demand, the flow determination in each line is crucial. To do so, Clément's First Formula is the most used methodology worldwide. Nevertheless, sometimes the use of this methodology can promote the oversizing of networks. This research verifies, by a proposed methodology, whether the normal flow distribution hypothesis corresponds to a real flow distribution in the network. In order to achieve this objective, statistical comparative analyses (visual and numerical) were performed between a theoretical and a real flow distribution that were registered in an irrigation network in Spanish Mediterranean region. When the normal distribution was not verified, other distribution functions were proposed by Matlab's functions. When the methodology was applied throughout the year in the case study, particularly for this irrigation network, the generalized extreme value function was found to be one of the better fit options to represent the distribution flow in 11 of the 12 months. The corroboration of this function in other networks could contribute to the design of more sustainable and optimized networks. If the flow distributions are more realistic when irrigation networks are designed, efficiency will increase, reducing the energy footprint in the distribution and, therefore, the exploitation costs. Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.