AVALIAÇÃO DOS MODELOS MATEMÁTICOS PARA DIMENSIONAMENTO DO BULBO MOLHADO NA IRRIGAÇÃO POR GOTEJAMENTO

Abstract

The knowledge about the dimensions of the wet bulb generated by drippers used in projects is vital for the proper design and operation of drip irrigation systems. The aim of this study was to test the performance of the Schwartzman-Zur Reproduced and Hydrus-2D models in the prediction of the dimensions of wet bulb generated by drippers of different flows. The study was performed at the experimental field of Taubaté University in Taubaté, State of São Paulo, Brazil. Firstly, it was collected the dimensions of wet bulbs generated by drippers of 2, 4 and 8 L h-1 in a red-yellow latosol. Secondly, the wet bulb dimensions were simulated using Schwartzman-Zur Reproduced and Hydrus-2D models. The statistical analysis for evaluating the performance of these models have shown that the Schwartzman-Zur Reproduced predicted the experimental data with 94% precision, while the Hydrus-2D predicted with 85% precision. In conclusion the two models can adequately estimate the dimensions of the wet bulb for the studied conditions. However, it must be highlighted that the Schwartzman Zur Reproduced model had the best performance.