SIMULATING THE SOIL MOISTURE CONTOUR DURING DRIP IRRIGATION

Authors:Novikov Andrey E., Vasilyev Petr S., Shmeleva Marina Yu., Zbukarev Roman V.

631.674.6
Theme: Land reclamation, water manadgement and agrophysics
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Purpose: to develop the methodology for simulating internal and boundary moisture contours in the sub-drip space formed during drip irrigation of agricultural crops and to test it on field data.

Materials and methods. The approach to predicting local moisture contours is based on representing their outline, modeled as an elliptical sector and an ellipse, in the form of a simple polygon whose vertices are moisture coordinates and whose edges are straight line segments.

Results. Using the methods of the vector product of coordinates (depths and radii) and their addition, as well as analytical geometry for finding the area and metric parameters of local moisture contours, an algorithm for solving the problem of modeling the outline on a plane and a graphical visualization in comparison with experimental data on moisture during dripping of irrigated soils are presented. When solving the problem for light and heavy soils with respect to granulometric composition, the boundary condition was taken to be the perpendicular and parallel arrangement of the major axis of the geometric figure relative to the soil surface, respectively, and the heterogeneities present in the soil properties were leveled by averaging the contour (area) with the corresponding model outline.

Conclusion. For practical purposes, the accuracy of the model task solution is ensured by a polynomial of 2–4 degrees, which allows for the model to be easily adapted to any sample of experimental data. In particular, the areas of local moisture contours for irrigated soil in the after-irrigation period, obtained using theoretical models, differ from the experimental values by an average of 4–5 %, demonstrating the applicability of the developed approach.

doi: 10.31774/2712-9357-2026-16-2-35-55

Keywords

irrigation, simulation, regression, drip irrigation, moisture contour

For quoting

Novikov A. E., Vasilyev P. S., Shmeleva M. Yu., Zbukarev R. V. Simulating the soil moisture contour during drip irrigation. Land Reclamation and Hydraulic Engineering. 2026;16(2):35–55. (In Russ.). https://doi.org/10.31774/2712-9357-2026-16-2-35-55.

Authors

A. E. Novikov – Director, Doctor of Technical Sciences, Corresponding Member of RAS, All-Russian Research Institute of Irrigated Agriculture – branch of the Federal Scientific Center of Hydraulic Engineering and Land Reclamation named after A. N. Kostyakov (400002, Volgograd region, Hero City Volgograd City District, Volgograd, Timiryazeva st., 9), ae_novikov@mail.ru, AuthorID: 619181, ORCID: 0000-0002-8051-4786;

P. S. Vasilyev – Associate Professor of Department of Processes and Equipment for Chemical and Food Production, Candidate of Technical Sciences, Associate Professor, Volgograd State Technical University (400005, Volgograd region, Volgograd, Lenin ave., 28), nestorvv@mail.ru, AuthorID: 716749, ORCID: 0000-0003-0262-686X;

M. Yu. Shmeleva – Postgraduate Student, All-Russian Research Institute of Irrigated Agriculture – branch of the Federal Scientific Center of Hydraulic Engineering and Land Reclamation named after A. N. Kostyakov (400002, Volgograd region, Hero City Volgograd City District, Volgograd, Timiryazeva st., 9); Assistant of the Agroengineering Department of the Agrarian and Technological Institute, Peoples' Friendship University of Russia named after Patrice Lumumba (117198, Moscow, Miklukho-Maklaya st., 6), krushinova-myu@rudn.ru; ORCID: 0009-0005-4514-3827;

R. V. Zbukarev – Laboratory Researcher, All-Russian Research Institute of Irrigated Agriculture – branch of the Federal Scientific Center of Hydraulic Engineering and Land Reclamation named after A. N. Kostyakov (400002, Volgograd region, Hero City Volgograd City District, Volgograd, Timiryazeva st., 9), zbukarevr@mail.ru, AuthorID: 1209654, ORCID: 0000-0002-9237-547X.

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