Engineering Commons^™

Water Hammer Protection For Pumped Turnouts On Aging Pipelines, Charles M. Burt, Zachary C. Markow

BioResource and Agricultural Engineering

Water hammer in an irrigation district pipeline is typically caused by sudden changes in turnout flow rates. A sudden shutoff of a booster pump, or a rapid closure of a turnout valve, can potentially cause surge damage. The problem occurs if the pressure exceeds the pressure rating of the pipeline. As pipes age, their pressure rating typically declines. This report describes three different solutions that utilize a combination of these techniques/devices to provide district pipeline protection from water hammer.

Pipeline And Canal Downstream Control System For Recirculation - Patterson Id Case Study, John Sweigard, Charles M. Burt, Peter Rietkerk

BioResource and Agricultural Engineering

Patterson ID in Central California has five long, along-the-contour lateral canals that flow northward from a main canal. The main canal operates on downstream control, providing excellent flexibility to heads of the laterals. The lateral canals operate with manual upstream control and have little storage. The classic tail-ender problem existed; spill from the tail end was necessary to avoid under-supplying tail-end customers.

To eliminate the spill and to provide better flexibility, a system was designed and constructed to tie the ends of the five laterals together with pipes and pumps, with one central regulating reservoir. The automatic control system allows …

Implementation And Field Calibration Pipeline Doppler Meters In Northern California, Stuart Styles

BioResource and Agricultural Engineering

The Tehama-Colusa Canal Authority (TCCA) has been using SonTek Doppler flow meters at approximately 30 installations for about 3 years. TCCA is located in northern California with its headquarters in Willows. The Cal Poly ITRC compared the accuracy of the flow measurement readings from the new Doppler flow meters to the venturi meters that were installed by the US Bureau of Reclamation (USBR). The venturis were used as the historical standard for flow measurement for TCCA. TCCA has opted to move away from the existing technology for a variety of reasons, especially due to the issue concerning access requirements for …

Evaluation Of Magnetic Meters For Irrigation Pipeline Measurement, Stuart Styles, Bryan Busch

BioResource and Agricultural Engineering

Magnetic flow meters are used to measure the flow rate of a liquid in a closed pipeline. This type of meter is becoming increasingly popular for measurement with agriculture applications. Electromagnetic meters were tested by the Irrigation Training and Research Center in pipelines located less than the 10 diameters upstream of disturbances with good results. Results show that location guidelines for placing a magnetic meter can be decreased even for turbulent conditions. This paper will discuss how a magnetic flow meter works, advantages and disadvantages of this type of meter, test results, and new guidelines for field applications.