Abstract:
Irrigation water conveyance canals are crucial for irrigation, domestic water
supply and sewage. As such, they may require substantial amount of investment
depending on its length and cross section. Any effort to save the cost of
construction or maximize the conveyance also serves to improve agricultural
production.
Good asset design algorithms can significantly increase the life of an irrigation
canal and reduce its life cycle costs. The need to reduce the life-cycle costs of
earthen canal banks has been identified as one of the Sudan irrigation highest
strategic priorities. Procedures are not presently available for selecting optimum
canal parameters directly. Typically, the design of a canal is done by trial and
error. Canal design need to consider, whether the canal boundary is erodible or
non-erodible.
In this study, different algorithms including Manning equation using Newton-
Raphson solution method, Regime methods (Kennedy and Lacy methods),
Tractive Force Approach, Optimization Area Approach, Velocity constraint
method (Minimum permissible velocity as a limit for sedimentation and
maximum permissible velocity as a limit for erosion) and Morphological
method) are applied to triangular, rectangular, parabolic and trapezoidal crosssections
for case of canal running on sedimentary alluvial soils liable to
scouring and sedimentation and to stable hard soils. The data from Gezira and
Managil canals is utilized as input for various design algorithms and
corresponding canal dimensions as output for comparing these algorithms. The
Data of Gezira and Managil canals is taken as a design example to demonstrate
the applicability and practicability of each one of the proposed methods. The
results obtained by applying all algorithms for trapezoidal cross-sections are
compared with the Morphological method which adopted as official method of
Ministry of Water Resources of Sudan and reported in the literature and used
for building the public domain Profile Program
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The result obtained indicate that: Manning equation using Newton-Raphson
solution method, Regime methods (Kennedy and Lacy methods), Tractive Force
Approach, Optimization Area Approach, Velocity constraint method (Minimum
permissible velocity as a limit for sedimentation and maximum permissible
velocity as a limit for erosion) and Morphological method in different values of
water depths are recommend not to use the Velocity constraint approach for it is
not in line with tractive force. Likewise it is not recommended to use Regime
methods for Gezira Scheme due to silt build up with time.
The design guidelines in this study have been prepared using the accumulated
knowledge and practical experience and the study analysis. The research