JeffGilbertTheUniversityofArizonaTheUniversityofArizona

outline Reasonsforconductinganaudit Precipitation&precipitationrate Systemoptimization

Wh ?Why?PlayersafetyPlayersafety

Moreconsistent/predictablefieldconditions

Turfgrass Health Reducebiotic&abioticplantproblemsp p

*there really isnt any 100% abiotic problems

Appl ater more efficientlApplywatermoreefficiently Minimizeareasthataretoowetortoodry Minimizeareasthataretoowetortoodry

Limitoperatingcostassociatedwithpumping Reduceexcessivewateringtimes Avoidrunoff

Maximize Distribution Uniformity DUMaximizeDistributionUniformity DU

How?Calibration

Similartofertilizerspreaderofsprayerp p y Allcalibrationbasicallyusesthesamecalculations AllhaveAREAincommon.T d i i l d i Todeterminerateincludetime.

Sprinklersystemusedmuchmoreoftenth ith d thaneitherspreaderorsprayer

FertilizerSpreader Product(pounds)perarea(ft2) Product(pounds)perarea(ft )*Swathwidthimportantforevendistribution

SprayerSprayer Gallonsperarea(ft2)

O ti i i t tf t Operatingpressureisanimportantfactor Swathwidthimportantforevendistribution Nozzlesizeandspacingimportant

CalibrateIrrigationSystemCa b ate gat o Syste

Sprinkler spacing Nozzle size Operating pressure

ApplyingWatertoTurf Onlyrealreasonforhavingasprinklersystem Thisiswheretherubbermeetstheroad Moreimportantthan:

smartcontrollerR i Rainsensor

GettingETfromasatellite

PrecipitationPrecipitation GrossPrecipitationGrossPrecipitation

Totalamountofwaterappliedoveragivenarea.

2604.1

ftgallonsdepthinches 2ft

1123f2

1.12.48.7

3604.1ft

xftinx

galft

exampleexample Given:Given:

Footballfieldplussurroundingturf=385x2203 5or84700squarefeet(ft2)

Measuredvolumethroughmeter=10,000gallons

Averageapplieddepthoverentirefieldfield

0.19inches000106041 284700000,10604.1"19.0

ft

Average Depth Gross Precipitation Rate forAverageDepthGrossPrecipitationRateforentirefield

D i hi f l l i i f lf b d i Doingthistypeofcalculationisusefulforbudgetingbutofferslittlehelpforschedulingirrigationorimprovingoveralldistributionofwater improvingoveralldistributionofwater.

Example 2Example2 Given:Given:

Baseballturfgrassinfield(usuallyasingleirrigationzone)y g g=80x80or6400ft2

Measuredvolumethroughmeter=750gallonsAverageapplieddepthforthiszone

0.19.750604.1"19.0 gal

2640019.0

ft

Grossprecipitationforsinglezone Thisisausefulmeasurementandcanbe Thisisausefulmeasurementandcanbehelpfulforschedulingirrigation.Butthisisstillgrossprecipitationanddoesnotg p paccountforwaterlossesbetweenthemeterandtheturf.

Notprecipitationrate Doesnotshowhowthewaterisdistributedoverthefield/zoneoverthefield/zone.

PrecipitationRate Rateatwhichasprinklersystemapplieswatertoagivenarea.

Precipitationrateforasystemistheaverage Precipitationrateforasystemistheaverageprecipitationrateofallsprinklersinagivenarearegardlessofthearc,spacing,orflowrateofeachh d head.

PRisafunctionofthetotalsprinklerdischargeappliedtotheareabetweenthesprinklers.totheareabetweenthesprinklers.

Headtohead50%ordiameter

Full Circle (360o)FullCircle(360o)

396 GPM2

3.96Ft

GPMIPH 2Ft

inchesft 12.min603396foothourgal

f.48.7

3.96

Thisisusedtodeterminegross precipitationrates

IPHSquareSpacing396sprinklerRow

gpmiph 3.96 sp inkleow

Total area equivalent to full-circle sprinkler or 360o90o + 90o + 90o +90o

E lExample Eachsprinklerhasaflowrateof14gpmac sp e as a o ate o 4 gp Spacingbetweensprinklersis60 Spacingbetweenrowsis60p g

squarespacing

houriph /"370143.96 houriph /37.06060

i l iIPHTriangularSpacinggpmi h 396 sprinklerRowgpmiph

866.03.96

Total area equivalent to full-circle sprinkler or 360o60o + 120o + 60o +120o 0.866 = sine of 60o

E lExample Eachsprinklerhasaflowrateof14gpmac sp e as a o ate o 4 gp Spacingbetweensprinklersis60 Spacingbetweenrowsis52(60x0.866)p g 5 ( )

trianglespacing

houriph /"430143.96 houriph /43.05260

Precipitation applied to a zonePrecipitationappliedtoazoneWhat would be the total gallon flow for a 10 minute run from all

sprinklers? What is the total depth applied?

11290o- 1.4 GPM 180o- 2.9 GPM 360o- 5.5 GPM

29

28 58

Wh l Z P i i iWholeZonePrecipitationgpmQgpm 6.544.1 34551622365 gpQgp

gpmHgpm 2.2389.2 gpmFgpm 5.1635.5

3.455.162.236.5

gallonsgpm 453min103.45

4536041 gal "11.0'58'112

453604.1"

galdepth

CalculatethePrecipitationRateforanentire zone

90o 1 4 GPM 180o 2 9 GPM 360o 5 5 GPM

entirezone

90o- 1.4 GPM 180o- 2.9 GPM 360o- 5.5 GPM

112

58

Wh l i it ti tWholezoneprecipitationrategpmQgpm 6.544.1 gpQgp

gpmHgpm 2.2389.2 gpmFgpm 5.1635.5 3.455.162.236.5

345396 26496'58'112 ft

./"67.0264963.453.96 hr

ft

R TiRunTime Howmanyminuteswouldbeneededtoapply0.25?o a y utes ou d be eeded to app y 0. 5 ?

"25.0"670

.min60

hourhour 67.0hour

min60 uroh .min4.22"25.0"67.0

.min60

urohuroh

So,Whatistheprecipitationratefor a baseball infield?forabaseballinfield?

14 gpm

77 gpm

Each360o sprinklerhasaflowrateof14gpm Spacingbetweensprinklersis80 Spacingbetweenrowsis80

Squarespacing?

houriph /"21.08080143.96

houriph /"11.08080

73.96

8080

Probably somewhere between these two values need to test

8080

G i i iGrossprecipitationrates Allidealvaluesdea va ues

noactualmeasureofrealdistribution Allwaterisassumedtoreachtheturf Pressureateachnozzleallasdesignedandallthesame

Differencesinnozzlepressurecanvaryiphsignificantly Turfareacoveredbyanysprinklerorzoneassumed.

Alsobasedonidealoperatingpressure Everysprinklerlevel&tograde Allspacinginstalled/maintainedasdesigned

NetPrecipitation Net

Measureoftheamountofwaterthatactuallyreachesthelandscape.

ThenetprecipitationrateisthegrossThenetprecipitationrateisthegrossprecipitationrateminusthelossesthatoccurbetweenthesprinklerandtheoccurbetweenthesprinklerandthelandscapesurface.

TherealdealTherealdeal

How?How?Usecatchmentdevicestodetermineactualprecipitationrates

Determinetheprecipitationete e t e p ec p tat orateofabaseballoutfield

Eachzonesurroundedbyotherzonesy Spacing,pressureallvariable Arcsmixed

Baseball Field Has both Triangle & SquareBaseballFieldHasbothTriangle&Squarespacing,fullandpartcirclearcs

How? Arrangecatchcupsingridpattern Usuallymeasurealong3rd baseline Wanttohaveatleast3cupsbetweeneachsprinkler

For60headspacing,thecupswouldneedtobeabout15to19apart15 to19 apart

Thenumberofcupsuseddependsondesireddetail

Catch cup GridCatchcupGrid

Need 250+ cupsNeed ~250+ cups

Startwithonezone

Ideal sprinkler coverage

O t f 15 20 i tOperatezonefor1520minutes,ormore

More realistic coverage

Overlap coverageOverlap coverage

Catchcupscoveredbysinglezone Recordcatchvolumesfromsinglezone Markcupsthatgetwaterfromthissinglezone Identifyalladjacentzonesthatcontributewatertothisfirstzonearea Operateeachadjacentzoneforthesametime usedonfirstzone Recordcatchvaluesfromallotheradjacentzones

FirstAdjacentZone

S d Adj ZSecondAdjacentZone

Thi d Adj ZThirdAdjacentZone

F th Adj t ZFourthAdjacentZone

Fifth Adjacent ZoneFifthAdjacentZone

Sixth Adjacent ZoneSixthAdjacentZone

Whyincludeallsurroundingzones?lik ll i i i d li Justlikeallprecipitationratescoveredearlier.

Coverageneedstoadduptoanevenmultipleof360oiftrulyhead to headspacingiftrulyheadtoheadspacing

Independentofwhetherspacingissquareortriangle

All t ib ti 14403604

Allcontributingzones

5401803 5401803

5401803 5401803 1801801

1801801 1801801

3600

1801801

3603600

Or, 10 full-arc sprinklers

Combineallcatchvolumes Addcatchcupvaluestogether,cupbycup Getaverage Determineprecipitationrate Then,REPEATwithallotherzones.

Forexample

Sta.# 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

IPH 0.71 0.81 0.57 0.71 0.59 0.65 0.56 0.46 0.59 0.66 0.71 0.59

S f l f h dSurfaceplotofcatchcupdata

The reason for placing cups on a grid pattern

F tb ll fi ld ith i dFootballfieldwithmixedsprinkler spacing & arcssprinklerspacing&arcs

And now can include Calibration whenAnd,nowcanincludeCalibration whenrepairingtheseitemstoimproveDU

Misalignedsprinklers Tiltedsprinklers

Leaksinlateralsormain Incorrectpipesize

Improperpressure HighorlowN i i kl

Inadequateflow Slowvalves

Nonrotatingsprinkler BlockedspraypatternL h dd i

Mixednozzles Damagednozzles

h d Lowheaddrainage Missingsprinklers I i

Matchedprecipitation Atleastw/inzone

Mi db d Improperspacing Cloggednozzles

Mixedbrands

B fit f b lib tiBenefitsofzonebyzonecalibration Applydesireddepthateachirrigationeventpp y des ed dept at eac gat o eve t

VerydifficulttodetermineIPHonbaseballfield Donotrelyoncatalogiphvaluesforschedulingwhichcanresultindeficitirrigation

IncreaseoverallDU&playerSafety

DU 54%DU 75%

DU 54%

19% under-irrigated

ThankYouThankYou