CHAPTER FIVE

WATER CONVEYANCE AND

CONTROL
Contents
• Irrigation distribution systems
• Layout of canal irrigation structures
• Design of canals
• Methods of water measurement
• Cross drainage structures
Objective
• At the end of the chapter students will:
­ Be familiarized with the methods of canal alignments,
­ Understand the basic procedures for design of canals
­ Understand how water can be measured in irrigation schemes,
­ Understand types and purpose of cross drainage structures in irrigation
schemes.
Irrigation distribution systems
• Purpose of irrigation network:
Layout of irrigation and drainage canals
­ Water intake
• The layout of irrigation and drainage
­ Conveyance systems should take into consideration:
­ Distribution ­ The Physical (technical) feasibility and
­ Field application to the crops ­ The economic feasibility
• The technical aspect of the layout of
irrigation and drainage is meant for the
physical possibility of putting the proposed
infrastructure on the ground.
• The economic feasibility of an alignment
will be determined after making a
comparison between various technically
possible alternatives on an economic basis.
Layout of irrigation and drainage canals
Differences between irrigation and drainage canals
• Irrigation canals are open channels through which irrigation water is
conveyed and distributed
• Drainage canals are open channels which evacuate excess water.
• Some of the differences are:
Irrigation canals Drainage canals
• Carry clean water • Carry generally dirty (saline or
• The flow is from the high level to alkaline) water
the lower level canals (main • Flow is from the lower level canals to
canals to tertiary canals) the higher level canals (tertiary drains
• Located on the higher part of the to main drains).
area • Located on the lower part of the area
Layout of irrigation canals
• Irrigation canals can be aligned in any of the following three ways:
­ Along the contour
­ Along the ridge
­ Along the side slope
Contour canal

Advantages
• Low initial cost of construction as no need to construct one of the bank.
• Discharge capacity increases as rain water from higher side is collected in the canal.
Drawbacks
• Drainage enters from hilly side, so it has the risk of breaching and silting.
• It involves crossing the natural drainage and therefore, costly Cross Drainage Works (CDWs) are required to
be constructed.
• It irrigates on one side only.
Watershed canal(ridge canal)
• Canal aligned along the water Advantages
divide • This canal can supply water on both sides and thus a
• Irrigate both side of the sub large area may be taken under cultivation.
catchments • As it flows along the highest line, it does not require
to cross natural drainage on its way. Therefore, costly
Cross Drainage works (CDWs) are not at all
necessary.
• It is the best irrigation canal and most economical.
Disadvantages
• In aligning canal along the ridge, length becomes
more and if length is reduced by aligning straight,
high ground left between canal and the ridge line,
cannot be irrigated.
• If villages or towns are situated on ridge, canal has to
leave the ridge to bypass the town and villages.
Side slope canal
• Canal aligned at right angle to the
contours Advantages
• Aligned parallel to natural drainages • Construction of CDWs is not
necessary
Disadvantages
• Slope of this channel is more.
If it is unlined erosion takes
place.
• It irrigates one side of the
canal.
Distribution system of canals
• Any type of irrigation scheme whether direct or storage irrigation scheme require a
network of irrigation canals of different sizes and capacities.
• The entire network of the irrigation channels is the canal system.
• A canal system consists of :
­ Primary distribution system:
­ Secondary distribution system:
­ Tertiary distribution system &
­ Field channels.
Design of canals
General considerations
• An irrigation and drainage network should be designed and operated in such away that:
­ The required discharge flows are passed at design water levels ()
­ No erosion of canal bottoms and banks will occur
­ Any sediment that enters the system will not settle in the network
• Design of canals Involves determination of design discharge and canal cross section.
• Procedures to determine design discharge
1. Determine the total area irrigated from the canal under consideration (A)
2. Based on the crop water requirement, determine the water demand for each unit
irrigated in l/s/ha (q)
3. For each outlet in the canal reach, determine the outflow by multiplying the area by the
water requirement; ()
Design of lined canals
• Canals are lined in order to:
­ Provide resistance against erosion
­ Avoid seepage losses
• Uniform flow equations can be used.
­ …………………Continuity equation
­ …………….Chezy’s equation
­ ………Manning’s equation
• A minimum permissible velocity which will not start sedimentation is selected for the
design of lined canals.
Table: values for Z and B/D for lined trapezoidal canals; for rectangular B/D=2
Design of unlined canals
• Unlined canals can be classified into two classes based on the stability of the
boundaries of the canal for design purposes:
­ Canals with stable (non-erodible) bed
­ Canals with erodible bed (Alluvial) with significant amount of sediments
flowing
Canals with stable (non-erodible) bed
• There are three approaches for the design of such canals:
­ The B/D approach
­ Iterative procedure
­ Permissible velocity approach
Permissible velocity approach
• The following procedure is used for the design of non-erodible channels by Manning's
formula.
Step1: Determine the area of the cross-sections from the continuity equation.
i.e.,
Step 2: Determine the hydraulic radius R from the Manning formula

Step 3: Determine the wetted perimeter from the relation:

Step 4: Determine the depth, D and bed width B from the values of A and P obtained
above by solving the equations which can be obtained from the canal x-section.
Design of unlined canals
Alluvial canals
• An alluvial canal is defined as a canal in which the
flow transports sediment having the same
characteristics as that of the material in the canal
bottom.
• In the case of alluvial canals, the canal surface
consists of alluvial soil which can be easily
scoured. Moreover, the velocity is low which
encourages silting.
• Therefore, in an alluvial canal, both scouring and
silting may occur if the canal is not properly • Two approaches have been
designed. used for the design of stable
• Alluvial canals should be designed such that alluvial canals:
neither scouring nor silting occurs. The velocity at ­ Regime theory
which this condition occurs is called the critical ­ Tractive force method
velocity.
Regime theory
• The regime theory is purely empirical in nature and was developed based on
observations on a number of irrigation canals in the Indo-Pakistan
subcontinent.
• Sediment concentration in regime canals is usually less than 500 ppm by
weight and the regime theory should be assumed to be applicable to canals
carrying similar concentration of sediment load.
• The design of alluvial canals using regime theory depends on the
investigations made on sediment/silt load of canals.
• The following two theories are extensively used for the design of canals in
alluvial soils.
­ Kennedy's silt theory
­ Lacey's silt theory.
Kennedy’s theory
Design procedure
Step 1: Assuming a trial depth, determine the critical velocity (Vo) using

Step 2: Determine the area of flow, A from A=Q/Vo;

Step 3: Workout the canal cross sectional parameters;
Step 4: Calculate the actual mean velocity (V) in the canal from

Step 5: Compare V and Vo. If the same, the assumed depth of flow y is right, if
not the same assume another y and repeat steps 1 through 4.
Lacey’s Theory
Design procedures
Step 1: Compute the silt factor, f using
Step 2: Calculate the velocity of flow from
Step 3: Compute cross-sectional area of channel section from
Step 4: Compute wetted perimeter of channel section from
Step 5:Work out the hydraulic radius (R) from
Step 6: Workout depth of flow and bed width from A, P and R
Step 7: Determine the bed slope S from
Tractive force method
Procedure
1. The permissible tractive stress is obtained from the observed data of the existing channels
based on the sediment characteristics of flow in the channel and D50 size of the bed
material
2. Average bed slope of the channel is then selected either with reference to the average
ground slope along the alignment or on the basis of experience.
3. Determine the value of R from
4. Determine the velocity of flow from Manning equation
5. Determine area of cross section from and wetted perimeter from the equation .
6. Determine the depth of flow, D and bed width, B, from the values of A and P obtained
above by solving the equations which can be obtained from the canal x-section.
Methods of water measurement
• Good water management begins with water measurement
• Basic principle
Q = Vm Af
Where Q = flow rate in a pipeline or channel
Vm = mean or average velocity of flow in the pipeline or channel
Af = cross-sectional area of flow
• Velocity is not constant throughout the cross-section
Open Channels
Velocity methods (Q = Vm Af)
­ Current meter (measure velocity at a number of points in the cross-section using a
calibrated meter)
­ Float method (Vm = Kf Vs where Vs is surface velocity measured with a float, and Kf is a
velocity correction factor ranging from 0.65 to 0.8)
Methods of water measurement
• Estimating Surface Velocity, Vs, of a Straight Stream/canal with a Float and Stopwatch

Distance, (m) = Velocity, (m/sec)

Time, (sec)
Methods of water measurement

Parshal flume Trapezoidal flume

Methods of water measurement
Weirs

Rectangular

Trapezoidal

Triangular
Drops/Falls
• When a canal crosses an area that has a larger natural surface slope, a canal drop, has to be
provided suitably at certain intervals
­ Its location: Balance between the quantities of excavation and filling
­ Height: it is possible to provide larger falls at longer intervals or smaller falls at shorter
intervals
Cross drainage structures
• Cross drainage structures are required for
conveying the canals across natural drainage.
• Types of cross drainage structures
­ Canal over the drainage
­ Canal below the drainage
­ Canal and drainage at the same level
• Site selection for cross- drainage works.
­ The site should have stable banks and strong
sub-stratum
­ Attempt should be made to combine cross-
drainage structures with bridges.
­ Sufficient clearance b/n canal bed & HFL of
drainage for aqueduct.
Numerical examples on design of canals
1. Design the most efficient cross-section of a lined trapezoidal canal to carry a discharge
of 15m3/sec when the maximum permissible velocity is 2m/s. Assume the side slope =
1:1.
2. Design non erodible irrigation channel with the following data:
­ Discharge of the canal = 24m3/sec
­ Permissible mean velocity = 0.8m/sec
­ Bed slope = 1 in 5000
­ Side slope = 1:1
­ Chezy’s constant, C = 44
3. Design a non-erodible channel to convey 10 m3/s flow, the bed slope is 0.00015. The
side slope is 2 : 1 with Manning’s roughness coefficient = 0.016
4. Design a regime channel for a discharge of 50 m3/sec and silt factor of 1.1 using
Lacey's Theory.
Numerical examples on design of canals
5. Design an irrigation channel to carry 50m3/sec of discharge. The channel is to
be laid at a slope of 1 in 4000. The critical velocity ratio for the soil is 1.1. Use
Kutter's rugorsity Coefficient as 0.023.
6. Design an unlined channel in alluvial soil by the tractive force approach for a
discharge of 50 m3/sec from the following data:
­ Bed slope = 1/5000
­ Side slopes = 0.5:1
­ Manning’s n = 0.0225
­ Permissible tractive stress = 0.0025KN/m3.