Location: Sustainable Water Management Research
Project Number: 6066-13000-006-045-S
Project Type: Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Sep 30, 2026
End Date: Jun 1, 2028
Objective:
The objectives of this project are to support the parent project through improvements to irrigation which will lead to sustained availability of groundwater resources from the Mississippi River Valley Alluvial Aquifer, reduced labor costs in irrigation, and reduced runoff. Accomplishing the objectives of this research will help ensure the longterm availability of natural resources and reduce labor costs and pumping costs, which in turn will improve the profitability of agricultural producers in the Lower Mississippi River Basin, in keeping with the research priorities of the Secretary of Agriculture. The overall objective of this project is increased efficiency in surface irrigation through optimization of hole shape, size, and placement in lay flat irrigation tubing.
Specific objectives of this project are 1) Conduct field trials with an automated irrigation tubing hole punching prototype to collect data on flow rates, irrigation volume, outflow stream behavior, and other relevant irrigation characteristics, 2) perform trials and collect data on full-scale row crop agricultural fields with various shape, soil, and topographical characteristics, 3) perform computational fluid dynamics on the flow characteristics to guide improvements in determining proper hole placement and sizing to improve the efficiency in the application of irrigation water, and 4) repeat trials in objectives 1 and 2 using data gather from objectives 1, 2 and 3 with refined hole placement and sizing and determine efficiencies gained.
Approach:
The Cooperator will accomplish the objectives by utilizing a prototype automatic hole punching implement. This prototype will be used to insert holes of various shapes and sizes in locations determined by computerized hole selection (CHS) software, which is the current state-of-the-art technology for determining hole sizes in surface irrigation via lay-flat tubing.
To carryout Objectives 1 and 2 the Cooperator will use a prototype implement to insert holes where the CHS software indicates to meet the irrigation needs of the fields. Data will be collected in the field on how water flows from the machine punched holes, which are smoother and differently shaped than traditionally punched holes. This data will include flow rate, angle of departure from the pipe, time to water out the field, uniformity of irrigation across the field and other observations deemed relevant by the Cooperator. Trials will be conducted on full-scale fields of various shapes, row spacings, topography and soil characteristics. Observations will be made on a statistically appropriate number of rows distributed along the irrigation tubing to account for relevant factors such as hydraulic pressure, distance from irrigation well, and travel rows (which have been compacted from implement travel).
In a parallel process, Objective 3 will be met through the use of computational fluid dynamics (CFD), utilizing the Collaborator’s High Performance Computing Center resources to ensure appropriate resolution of the model. CFD results will model flow of water through the irrigation tubing and out of the holes along lengths of lay-flat tubing which can exceed over ¼ mile in length. CFD results will be compared to the observations gathered during field trials in Objectives 1 and 2.
The analysis of results from Objectives 1, 2, and 3 will be used to refine hole placement, sizes, and shapes to perform a new round of field trials in Objective 4. Objective 4 results will be compared to the original field results from Objectives 1 and 2 and efficiencies gained through the refinements will be calculated. Objective 4 should result in improved hole placement, shape, and size guidance for an updated CHS software package to enable automated hole punching in lay-flat irrigation tubing.