Engenharia de Sistemas de Irrigação e Drenagem

A Software for Hydraulic Analysis of Linear-Move and Center-Pivot Irrigation Systems: LincSys, I. User Interface and Computational Module

Abstract

Zerihun D and Sanchez C.A.

LincSys is a software for simulating the hydraulics of linear-move and center-pivot irrigation systems. The term LincSys is a mnemonic for the phrase ‘linear-move and center-pivot systems’. The LincSys software is comprised of a pair of executable files: a hydraulic simulation module, HydrSimLaterals.exe, and a graphical user interface (GUI), LincSys.exe, through which the user interacts with the hydraulic module. The user interface and the computational module are coupled through an application programming interface. The simulation module of LincSys is based on a numerical solution of the continuity and energy balance equations for one-dimensional steady pipe flow. The model can simulate the hydraulics of linear-move and center-pivot systems that use the following emission devices to meter outlet discharges along the lateral: (i) drop-tubes fitted with pressure reducing valve and emitter assemblies, (ii) drop-tube and emitter assemblies, or (iii) emitters placed directly on lateral outlet ports. The GUI of LincSys consists of a tabbed form with four windows, namely, the Systems-Projects, Input, Output, and Charts tabpages. Each tabpage provides access to a subset of the program functionalities, consisting of: project management, help utilities, displaying and enabling the editing of input data, conducting simulation, and displaying output data and charts. LincSys employs a mix of standard Windows user interface controls to enable users to issue commands, navigate the user interface, and access program functionalities. Note that this manuscript is part I of a two-part paper and it describes the hydraulic simulation module and the GUI of LincSys. Part II presents application examples and a brief summary of results of model evaluation.