Hydraulic optimization of a drip irrigation system using linear programming

Abstract

A linear optimization model was developed to minimize the hydraulic network cost of a drip irrigation system, which will be used in a citrus orchard field. The model was applied in two situations: in the first one, the costs with pipe and energy were taken into consideration; in the second one, only the pipe cost was observed. The hydraulic-energetic design was the most efficient in cost reduction, followed by the hydraulic design and by the design done by an expert, which was used to evaluate the model. The results also showed that keeping the other costs constant, the energy factor will only interfere in the system design if its rate is equal or higher than US$ 0.02522/kWh.