Cfd investigation of a novel underground irrigation technique in porous soil

This study investigates an alternative underground irrigation design in which crops are watered from underground piping. An underground method would be much less susceptible to evaporation and outside weather conditions compared to above-ground methods but must contend with the porous media of the soil and backflow deeper underground. This alternative underground system is compared with an existing underground irrigation design already on the market as well as a simplified above-ground spray design with the same pressure source. The systems are modeled using a two-dimensional representation and solved using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software. A range of porosity and permeability values are imposed on the porous soil to simulate a range of soil types. From these comparisons, it is shown that approximately 13% more water can be saved using the alternative underground method as compared to the existing underground irrigation design and even more so when compared to the above-ground spray design.