Structural optimization of pit bionic drip irrigation emitter to improve hydraulic performance and anti-clogging...

Area of Science:

• Agricultural Engineering
• Fluid Dynamics
• Biomimetics

Background:

• Drip irrigation emitters face usability limitations due to flow channel blockage.
• Low-speed vortex zones in traditional designs are the primary cause of clogging.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design and evaluate novel pit bionic drip irrigation emitters.
• To enhance anti-clogging performance by optimizing flow channel structures.

Main Methods:

• Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) for flow velocity and turbulence analysis.
• Discrete Element Method (DEM) to simulate sand particle trajectories.
• Anti-clogging experiments with various sand particle sizes.

Main Results:

• Scheme 3 showed milder low-speed vortices and reduced sand particle deposition compared to schemes 1, 2, and 4.
• Optimized models exhibited 13.34% and 14.51% higher relative traffic in later stages.
• Optimized channels nearly doubled the maximum allowable particle size causing blockage.
• Average sedimentation rate reduced by 58.02% for particle sizes ranging from 0.120 to 0.245 mm.

Conclusions:

• The optimized bionic drip irrigation emitters demonstrate superior anti-clogging capabilities.
• Plant bionics offers an effective approach to overcoming flow channel blockage in irrigation systems.