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The project concerns the irrigation system for green areas located at different altitudes in the Ryadh metro station (Qasr Al Hokm Downtown) and in particular:

the green areas and the palm trees placed immediately outside the station and at a level equal to the street level
the flowerbeds placed on terraces that go down together with the stairs between the zero and the approximately -5 m
the internal garden in the lower floor of the underground station at an altitude of about -30 m

The first two areas are supplied by two pumping systems placed at different depths where water treatment systems are installed. A series of hydraulic checks were carried out to assess the achievement of acceptable levels of uniformity, efficiency and quality of the irrigation service.

For the outdoor area there is a drop and rain system (with pop-up) supplied in a single shift, and equipped with pressure reducers in order to protect the system parts with lower nominal pressures. For the recommended pump, the operating point and the acceptability of the obtained efficiency have been identified. The consultancy carefully assessed the sizes and nominal characteristics of the pipes for the pressures and load losses involved. Particular attention has been paid to the wide central flowerbed irrigated with a dense network of dripping laterals in sub-irrigation.

For the internal garden at an altitude - 30 m, an irrigation system has been planned divided into two distinct shifts:

1st round at the service of vertical gardens and pots with palm trees (with pop-up and drip system)
2nd round at the service of drip irrigated flowerbeds.

Several parts are equipped with pressure reducers based on the operating pressure and the nominal operating conditions of the devices.

Several supply scenarios were evaluated from the pump at the lower levels, to define a collateral junction with 3 ascents towards the garden level in order to obtain a functional distribution and a layout of the pipes with minimum impact for the crossing of the structure and intermediate floors.

Also in this case the operating point and the acceptability of the pump efficiency have been calculated.

	Irriworks is at your disposal to provide you with high-level design services and advanced tools for irrigation systems and networks. Our team of hydraulic engineers and highly specialized irrigation professionals can provide you with all the technical support and information necessary to design or verify any system.
Thanks to our expertise and to IrriPro software, we can know with precision the behaviour of the system before it is installed. In Irriworks we deal with green space service facilities in urban and extra-urban areas, from vertical gardens to multilevel structures. After the phase of acquisition of the plans, of the architectural plans and of the already planned systems, we analyze different usage scenarios in order to identify the solution that presents the best performances.
	Based on the information received from the client, our team of engineers develops the project according to the required criteria and proposes various briefings for the presentation of the project to share the intermediate results and to plan possible corrections or changes to be made. Our engineering approach allows us to offer a consulting service for plants to be designed in complex conditions and structures, achieving results of maximum efficiency and functionality.

The goal of the service is the best possible customer satisfaction by providing the required documents, facilitating the understanding of the project and providing any support during the construction of the plant, in Italy and abroad.

Some samples of projects already made

RIYADH METROPOLITAN

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SNAM TARSIA PLANT

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As an alternative to consulting, we propose the purchase of IrriPro as a design tool, recommended for all technicians who frequently face the irrigation system project.

Today IrriPro is the most popular software on the market because it represents the easiest program to use and the most reliable support for the technician who wants reliable and rapid results.

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Analysis of irrigation uniformity by IrriPro (pub. on IJR)

The research study was conducted in a greenhouse at western region of Abu Dhabi UAE to check the operational reliability, efficiency, dependability and harmony of the existing drip irrigation system through IrriPro, our irrigation design software.

IRRIPRO was used in order to design and plan viable drip irrigation systems. This software is proficient enough in planning network layout, hydraulic designing and above all simulations to obtain results. This software can also provide requisite cost estimation of drip irrigation.

Hydraulic estimation of drip irrigation system was based on a method defined by the ASAE (1999). Three emitters on a lateral were selected at the head, midpoint and tail-end and discharges were measured on them.

IRRIPRO has the diverse quality to calculate and design many other hydraulic parameters. It is a helping tool for water resource engineers in designing, testing, analyzing any other alternative design on precision and economical parameters.

The comparative study revealed that the drip irrigation achieved high CU and DU which imply that the existing drip irrigation system was designed on the basis of proper scaling and dimensions. The CU on average basis for the system was found to be 96.4990% (observed) and 99.9796% (simulated) respectively. Similarly, the DU on average basis for the system was found to be 94.3605% (observed) and 99.8822% (simulated) respectively. EUa of the system using pressure compensated type emitters with the length of laterals 16 meters with an average observed and simulated value was found 99.2192% and 99.99316% respectively.

Conclusions of the study
The comparison of experimental and simulated results confirms that the application uniformity seems to be satisfactory and the existing drip irrigation unit was designed properly. The design of the existing drip irrigation network was checked by the interactive computer software i.e. IRRIPRO which was found acceptable. The uncertainty in results was found less than 10% which indicates its accuracy. IRRIPRO software also predicts that the ideal pressure for existing drip irrigation was 13.353 m c.a (1.29 atm) which gives 3.655 lit / hr flow rate for all emitters. As IRRIPRO is providing the ideal results for the existing drip irrigation system it will be more as compared to the field results. This software could also be used to calculate the annual costs of any system even if it is not designed by IRRIPRO.

For more details about research study you can see the full paper.

IJR (International Journal of Research IF 3,541) published the research paper named "ANALYSIS OF TRICKLE / DRIP IRRIGATION UNIFORMITY BY IRRIPRO SIMULATIONS"

Differences between measured and simulated values

(in collaboration with University)

Irriworks software was used (in collaboration with the Agrarian Faculty of the University of Palermo, measure 3.13 of POR Sicily PIT7) for an irrigation system at the farm called "Licata" in the City of Bompensiere (CL). The plant is costitued by 180 pressure compensated drip emitters, is located on a plot of about 0.6 ha, with slopes from 10% to 18%, and is planted with olive trees.

There are some differences between estimated values (simulated with the IrriPro software) and afield measured ones: no more than 9% for pressure and 6% for the discharge. The error is mainly due to constructive aspect of the emitter during factory production.

Estimated-measured pressure chart

For the same reason, the uniformity coefficient was equal to 94%, as assessed by IrriPro, compared to 91% measured in the field.
In short, the software IrriPro simulated very well the conditions of operation of the network.

The project involved the irrigation system for green areas within the SNAM plant at the Tarsia town.

The total area is about 12 hectares and is composed of green lawn beds. The terrain is purely flat. Through a well the water is collected in an accumulation tank that hydraulically separates the constant flow coming from the well and the irrigation system that requires higher flow rates and shorter durations. The pump that feeds the irrigation system from the accumulation tank has been sized for the different shifts so as not to exceed the volume of compensation.

The plant is composed of more than 3000 m of DN90 main pipelines and problems of different crossings for existing works have been tackled. Several sectioning solenoid valves have been inserted so as to divide the main network and command which sections to engage and which to exclude.

In order to manage the 19 shifts, made up of groups of sectors chosen to balance the flow rate around a set average value in the various shifts, 56 solenoid valves and two control units have been provided to control the valves and the pump in two groups.

The control units can be managed remotely.
The timing of the shifts was drawn up as to:

have a similar flow for each turn
cover irrigation within a day
verify the equivalence between the incoming and the outgoing volume from the supply tank
simulate further hydraulic conditions.

The turf of the green areas is irrigated with more than 500 pop-up sprinklers (dynamic and static), while the perimeter part with hedges and shrubs is irrigated with dripping (self-compensating) laterals. The pluviometric overlap of wet circles and the uniformity of distribution was verified.
More than 40 pressure reducers have been inserted to keep the pressure below certain limits in some areas of the system (especially for the drip part which requires less pressure to operate).

In the project, different scenarios were assessed (some discarded due to lack of uniformity, efficiency and balancing of flow rates per shift), and finally chosen the one that at the same time reaches the daily requirement to irrigate the entire surface, has an adequate intensity of rain, an acceptable uniformity and is compatible with the conditions of compensation, volume and flow of the source.

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Designing an irrigation system is not just about drawing but also perform an hydraulic calculation to obtain quantitative results. Without knowing how it behaves (hydraulically) a network, at any point, how do you know which diameter of the pipeline to adopt or which and how many emitters you can feed?

How can you say that a project is well done, not knowing if at any point is dispensed the right amount of water?

The proper project takes into account all the geometrical parameters, physical, topographical (as well as the boundary conditions where the plant will be built) and uses the most advanced engineering methodologies and mathematical formulas to analyze the quality of irrigation.

The third-party software adopt simplified methods to calculate the flow and pressure: typically they design according to the criterion of constant speed in the pipe or strive for minimum cost (economic). In this way we obtain approximate results and the technician is unable to answer the questions: does the water reach all parts of the installation? Is the irrigation system working well? Can The plant guarantee me an acceptable quality for irrigation?

Take for example a plant on an area of 0.6 hectares with about 5000 emitters built on a lot with variable slopes (with laterals that have an average gradient of 2.5% ranging from a minimum value of -5% and maximum +10%).

On following table it shows the consequences if it isn't considered any parameters in the calculation:

	IrriPro	Other softwares	Maximum error [%]	Comments
Variable slope	Processing 3D model of the ground for a variable slope, point by point, section by section, pipe by pipe	Inserting a constant slope for all parts of the system	40% for the value of uniformity50% for the minimum pressure	The error varies according to the order they are presented with the change of slope
Variables speed	Calculated as a variable in every point	Set as a constant value	-	In general, the water speed varies in lateral pipes between 5m/s and 0 m/s
Costant Head losses	Calculated assuming Variables the flow rates of each part of pipe and the outgoing flow from each emitter (rigorous formulation of the equation of motion and continuity)	Calculated by taking the equivalent discharge transiting the entire length of the pipeline	30% of the total head losses	The evolution of pressure due to continuous losses, calculated as the equivalent discharge of service along the pipe, has a constant slope and differently by reality. The calculation of uniformity in this case is not reliable
Local head losses	Considered using a rigorous formulation depending on the size of the emitter	Not considered or imposed as a constant proportion of the pressure	50% of the total head losses	The local head losses (due to the presence of emitters) include up to 50% of the total head losses
Integral calculus of the system	Integral calculus of all processed laterals considering their mutual interaction between each element	Calculation on a single chosen lateral	-	The reliability calculation for a single lateral (the result is then extended to the whole system) depends on the choice of the lateral and the size of the system
Temperature	Modifiable	Not modifiable	7-10% of the total pressures	Temperature affects the viscosity and density of water

In conclusion, the error committed not considering any or all of the components of the calculation may become significant. In other words, a simple calculation gives no guarantee to the success of a project.

The other software are able to calculate the hydraulic characteristics in few points on the network.

IrriPro, however, allows the designer to know the continuous distribution (not discrete) of the values of pressure and discharge, and therefore know where and how far to correct to improve the project. For example, the thematic map of IrriPro, through different colors for different scales of flow rate and pressure, allows the designer to know how serious and extensive the negative condition is and fix all the points where the water supply is in deficit.

Other software IrriPro

In this case, how extensive is the area where the designer must adjust the project to improve the conditions?

The overview is complete and, point by point, the designer knows where to intervene

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