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Drainage Equation

Hooghoudt's drainage equation describes the relationship between drain spacing, depth of the water table, and soil properties. It can be used to determine drain spacing given the drain depth, soil hydraulic conductivity above and below drains, depth to an impermeable layer, and the steady-state water table depth. The equation was originally developed by Hooghoudt and is commonly used in agricultural drainage design to determine optimal drain spacing that prevents crop yield reduction due to shallow or deep water tables.

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363 views3 pages

Drainage Equation

Hooghoudt's drainage equation describes the relationship between drain spacing, depth of the water table, and soil properties. It can be used to determine drain spacing given the drain depth, soil hydraulic conductivity above and below drains, depth to an impermeable layer, and the steady-state water table depth. The equation was originally developed by Hooghoudt and is commonly used in agricultural drainage design to determine optimal drain spacing that prevents crop yield reduction due to shallow or deep water tables.

Uploaded by

Monika Ksh
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Drainage equation

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


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A drainage equation is an equation describing the relation between depth and spacing of
parallel subsurface drains, depth of the watertable, depth and hydraulic conductivity of the soils.
It is used in drainage design.

Parameters in Hooghoudt's drainage equation

A well known steady-state drainage equation is the Hooghoudt drain spacing equation. Its
original publication is in Dutch.[1] The equation was introduced in the USA by van Schilfgaarde.[2]

Contents

 1Hooghoudt's equation
o 1.1Equivalent depth
o 1.2Extended use
 2Amplification
o 2.1Computer program
 3References
 4External links

Hooghoudt's equation[edit]
Hooghoudt's equation can be written as:.[3]
Q L2 = 8 Kb d (Dd - Dw) + 4 Ka (Dd - Dw)2
where:

 Q = steady state drainage discharge rate (m/day)


 Ka = hydraulic conductivity of the soil above drain level (m/day)
 Kb = hydraulic conductivity of the soil below drain level (m/day)
 Di = depth of the impermeable layer below drain level (m)
 Dd = depth of the drains (m)
 Dw = steady state depth of the watertable midway between the drains (m)
 L = spacing between the drains (m)
 d = equivalent depth, a function of L, (Di-Dd), and r
 r = drain radius (m)
Steady (equilibrium) state condition
In steady state, the level of the water table remains constant and the discharge rate (Q)
equals the rate of groundwater recharge (R), i.e. the amount of water entering
the groundwater through the watertable per unit of time. By considering a long-term (e.g.
seasonal) average depth of the water table (Dw) in combination with the long-term average
recharge rate (R), the net storage of water in that period of time is negligibly small and the
steady state condition is satisfied: one obtains a dynamic equilibrium.
Derivation of the equation
For the derivation of the equation Hooghoudt used the law of Darcy, the summation of
circular potential functions and, for the determination of the influence of the impermeable
layer, de method of mirror images and superposition.
Hooghoudt published tables for the determination of the equivalent depth (d), because the
function (F) in d = F (L,Di-Dd,r) consists of long series of terms.

Crop yield (Y) and seasonal average depth of water table (X in dm) [4]

Determining:

 the discharge rate (Q) from the recharge rate (R) in a water balance as detailed in the
article: hydrology (agriculture)
 the permissible long term average depth of the water table (Dw) on the basis
of agricultural drainage criteria
 the soil's hydraulic conductivity (Ka and Kb) by measurements
 the depth of the bottom of the aquifer (Di)
the design drain spacing (L) can be found from the equation in dependence of the drain
depth (Dd) and drain radius (r).
Drainage criteria
One would not want the water table to be too shallow to avoid crop yield depression nor too
deep to avoid drought conditions. This is a subject of drainage research. The figure shows
that a seasonal average depth of the water table shallower than 70 cm causes a yield
depression [5]
The figure was made with the SegReg program for segmented regression.[6]
Equivalent depth[edit]
In 1991 a closed-form expression was developed for the equivalent depth (d) that can
replace the Hooghoudt tables:[7]
d = πL / 8 { ln(L/πr) + F(x) }
where:

 x = 2π (Di − Dd) / L
 F(x) = Σ 4e−2nx / n (1 − e−2nx), with n = 1, 3, 5, . . .
Extended use[edit]
Theoretically, Hooghoudt's equation can also be used for sloping land.[8] The theory on
drainage of sloping land is corroborated by the results of sand tank experiments.[9] In
addition, the entrance resistance encountered by the water upon entering the drains can
be accounted for.

 Definitions of drainage of sloping land and entrance resistance

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