UNIVERSITI TUNKU ABDUL RAHMAN

Faculty : Lee Kong Chian Faculty of Unit Code : UEMX4533

Engineering and Science
Course : Bachelor of Engineering (Hons) Unit Title : Water Resources System
Civil Engineering
Year/ : 2017/Jan Lecturer/Tutor : Ir. Dr. Charlene Koo Chai
Semester Hoon
Session : 2016/2017

Tutorial 2 Irrigation Engineering

1. The Moisture Content at Field Capacity of a Sandy Soil is 20% by weight while that at
Permanent Wilting Point is 10% by weight. Root Zone Depth is 0.5 m and the bulk density
of soil is 1.8 g/cm3. Calculate the Net and Gross Depth of Irrigation Required if the
Irrigation Water-application Efficiency is 0.9. Determine the Shortest Irrigation Interval if
the Peak ET is 9 mm/day. (Ans: 45 mm, 50 mm, 500 m3/ha, 5 days)

2. The following data pertains to healthy growth of crop.

Field capacity = 30%
Permanent wilting percentage = 11%
Density of soil = 1.3 g/cm3
Root zone depth = 700 mm
Daily consumptive use of water for given crop = 12 mm

Determine the irrigation interval in days. (Ans: 86.45 mm, 7.2 days)

3. A 18-hectare field is to be irrigated with a sprinkler system. The root zone depth is 0.8 m
and the field capacity of the soil is 23% while the permanent wilting point is 14% by weight.
The soil bulk density is 1.5 g/cm3 and the water-application efficiency is 70%. The soil is to
be irrigated when 50% of the available water has depleted. The peak evapotranspiration is
6.0 mm/day and the system is to be run for 10 hours in a day for an irrigation period of 9
days.
Determine:
(i) Readily Available Water (RAW) or net irrigation depth
(ii) Gross depth
(iii) Irrigation interval
(iv) Area to be irrigated per day
(v) The system capacity

(Ans: 54 mm, 77.1 mm, 9 days, 2 ha/day, 43 L/s)

4. The root zone of a certain soil has a field capacity of 30% and permanent wilting percentage is
10%. How much water is available if the root zone depth is 1.2 m. The bulk density is 1.4 g/cm3.
(Ans: 336 mm)

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5. If a stream of 0.085 m3/s is delivered to the field for 2 hours, runoff averaged 0.0475 m3/s
for one hour and the depth of penetration of water measured at certain points in the field is
1.68, 1.53, 1.45, 1.25 and 1.07 m at the lower end. If the root zone depth of the crop is 1.68
m, determine
(a) water application efficiency
(b) uniformity coefficient

(Ans: 72.06%, 86.6%)

6. Soil samples were taken from different depths in a wheat field. Based on the analysis of the
samples, moisture contents before irrigation and at field capacity and apparent specific
gravity of the soil at different depths are given in the following Table. Determine the depth
of irrigation to be applied to the field. (Ans: 7.8 cm)

Root Zone Moisture Content Moisture Content Apparent Sp.

Level (cm) before Irrigation (%) at Field Capacity Gravity
(%)
0-30 8.2 15.2 1.7
30-60 10.5 15.8 1.62
60-90 12.4 16.2 1.45

7. Determine the system capacity for a sprinkler irrigation system to irrigate 16 ha of maize
crop. Design moisture use rate is 5 mm/day. Moisture replaced in soil at each irrigation is 6
cm. Irrigation efficiency is 70%. Irrigation period is 10 days in a 12-day interval. The system
is to be operated for 20 hours per day. (Ans: 19.05 L/s)

8. A Uniformity Check is taken by probing many stations down the border. Compute the
Uniformity Coefficient, Cu if the depths of penetration (cm) recorded in the following table:
(Ans: 94.4%)

Locations Depths (cm)

1 7.5
2 7.8
3 7.6
4 6.3
5 7
6 6.5
7 6.9
8 7.2
9 7.4
10 6.8