Diagnosis of the operation of a frontal ramp adopted in a large irrigated farm in North-West Tunisia

The present work consists of diagnosing the operation of a frontal ramp, a mechanized sprinkler system used during its first campaign, at the Société des Fermes Laitières (SFL), located at the Medjez El Bab delegation, governorate of Béja (North-West of Tunisia) and to appreciate the quality of watering carried out. This investigation concerned the assessment of the rainfall distribution, the coefficient of uniformity and possible changes to the adopted nozzle plan in accordance with the manufacturer’s recommendation. On the other hand, by checking theoretical and actual conformity while substituting the nozzles not suitable by nozzles from other ramps and testing the uniformity of distribution of the water. The uniformity tests carried out on the aisle of the ramp covered a dominant wind speed range of 0.7 to 5.9 m/s and a pressure range of 1.8 to 3.5 bar. The operating diagnosis found that the frontal ramp system studied was capable of producing a homogeneous water distribution, while recording a coefficient of uniformity going from 94.8 % in low wind to 89.6% in strong wind. In addition, the nozzle plan indicated by the manufacturer has been respected, while ensuring proper operation of the corresponding nozzles. Certainly, the use of such a mechanized sprinkler system is an interesting solution, given also its good efficiency (uniformity coefficient of the order of 94%) at low pressure (1.8 bars) and under moderate wind (2.4 m/s).

Keywords: Mechanized sprinkler, lateral ramp, Nozzle plan, water distribution, Coefficient of uniformity