1. Water Flow Concepts


Water Flow Concepts Objectives:

• You will learn about water flow through a pipe.
• You will learn that water flow in a pipe is a function of pipe cross-sectional area and water velocity.
• You will learn how to calculate water flow rate, given a pipe diameter and a flow velocity.
• You will appreciate the relative difference in flow capacity of two different diameter pipes.
• You will know the maximum flow velocity of water in a main pipeline.

Water flow is one of many concepts that help us understand what is going on in an irrigation system. Look into the end of a pipe and you see a cross-sectional area that the water must pass through.

The cross-sectional area is a fixed size for a given pipe diameter. To move more water through that pipe, one must increase the water velocity. To move less water through, one can lower the water velocity.

Imagine that the pipe is the outer shell and the water is a tube moving along inside. Then, the question might be raised about what happens if I change either the size of the pipe (area) or the speed of the water (velocity). Study this topic and make some comparisons of your own. Think about the pipes in your nursery.