Author(s): Giacomo Ferrarese; Umberto Fratino; Stefano Malavasi; Alessandro Pagano

Linked Author(s): Umberto Fratino, Alessandro Pagano

Keywords: Smart irrigation; Water management; Smart control valve; Efficiency

Abstract: Irrigated agriculture currently accounts for approximately 70% of the global water use. Under climate change and population growth, an immediate effect will be related to an increased demand for water resources and energy, to keep pace with growth in demand for production. In such context, the main challenges for agricultural water management are twofold. First, the growth of demand can significantly impact the operation of irrigation networks, increasing the occurrence of pressure deficits in irrigation networks which can bring to dangerous consequence for the quality of the service and for crop growth. Second, the challenge to respond to the environmental policies drives to implement climate mitigation measures that optimize resources availability and use (i.e. water and energy). As a response to these challenges, modernization processes are ongoing in the irrigation sector, both on the infrastructure and on network management. Especially the introduction of innovative management strategies, aimed at the energetic and hydraulic optimization of the network, necessitates the development of new technologies able to respond to new operating requirements: connectivity, real-time actions, reliability. Starting from these premises, the present study aims at demonstrating the potential associated to the use of the GreenValve System (GVS, patented by the Politecnico di Milano) in an on-demand pressurized irrigation network. Basically, the GVS is able to recover the energy needed for operation and to create a stand-alone real-time control and monitoring station. It is able to be remotely commanded and allows the introduction of management logic based on the real-time data acquired by the device, thus supporting a new concept of ‘smart’ network management. Based on the EPANET-MATLAB-Toolkit, a simulation model has been developed to: i) model a wide range of network operating conditions (e.g. upstream pressure, variability of hydrants’ simultaneity), thus identifying failures; ii) characterize hydrant and network performances, according to the FAO59 indicators; iii) identify criteria and rules to improve network operation, limiting/avoiding the occurrence of failure conditions (i.e. hydrants with insufficient pressure or flow rate). The code has been used to support the identification of suitable and relevant locations for installing the GVS, thus supporting its optima operation. A well-known case study has been considered for the analysis (i.e. the District 25 in Capitanata, Southern Italy, which is detailed in FAO59). Despite the complexity of the analysis associated to the multiple operating conditions (e.g. variable demand and hydraulic conditions throughout the irrigation season), several potential benefits related to the use of the GVS to support an improved system management clearly emerged.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3850/IAHR-39WC252171192022425

Year: 2022