ABSTRACT
The main purpose of testing equipments used in trickle irrigation systems consists of determining its hydraulic characteristics and analyzing its performance. Aiming to supply subsidies for an adequate design of trickle irrigation systems, a research was developed under laboratory and field conditions, in area belonging to the Irrigation and Drainage Engineering Laboratory at the of Paraíba, Federal University, in order to evaluate the performance of the microsprinkler NAAN 7110. In field, the emitter was tested for the wind speeds in the strips of 0-2, 2-4, 4-6 and 6-8 km/h. The tests sought the determination of the following parameters: manufacturing variation coefficient; characteristic equation of the relationship between pressure and discharge; and the average effective wetted diameter in laboratory and field. The analysis showed that the microsprinkler NAAN 7110 presents an excelente manufacturing uniformity, with a manufacturing variation coefficient (CVF) equal to 0,049. The best fitness for the pressure and discharge relationship was performed by the potential model, which presented a determination coefficient equal to 0,99. Under the conditions in which the tests were performed, there was not differentiation between the values of the average wetted diameter obtained in laboratory (5.7 m) and in field (5,7 m). However, the effective wetted diameter was larger in field (5.7 m) then in laboratory (4.5 m).
Key words:
trickle irrigation; hydraulic characteristics; effective diameter