Epsilon Open Archive

Abstract

When planning irrigation schemes it is necessary to consider a number of technical and economic factors. Factors primarily concern adjustment of the investment costs of the pipe and pump system to the energy cost, but also involve more detailed adjustment of the pipe dimensions in different parts of the pipe system in order to achieve solutions that are both technically and economically optimal. The report discusses these questions and opens with a survey of different cost relationships of interest in optimisation of the irrigation system. This is followed by the description of a graphical method of conducting optimisation work that can be suitably used when planning smaller schemes. In more complicated irrigation schemes with numerous outlets, a computer program may be of valuable assistance. A program of this kind has been prepared and an example of its use is illustrated in App. 1. The computer program greatly facilitates the testing of alternative solutions and thus contributes actively to obtaining solutions that are technically and economically optimal.