Course Objectives

• Understand the importance of drainage systems in agricultural land and their impact on crop productivity.
• Gain knowledge about the principles and concepts of agricultural drainage engineering.
• Familiarize with different types of drainage systems, such as surface drainage, subsurface drainage, and vertical drainage.
• Learn the design principles and criteria for effective drainage systems in agricultural fields.
• Gain practical knowledge of drainage system installation, including the selection and sizing of drainage pipes, outlets, and filters.

Course Outcomes

PO1: Engineering knowledge: Apply the knowledge of mathematics, science, engineering fundamentals, and to understand and solve the complex agricultural engineering problems.

P02: Problem analysis: Identify, formulate, review literature and analyze agriculture engineering problems to design, conduct experiments, analyze data and interpret data

P03: Design /development of solutions: Design solutions for complex engineering problems and to design agricultural machine components and processes with consideration for the public health, safety and eco-friendly environmental conditions

PO7: Environment and sustainability: Understand the impact of the professional engineering solutions in societal and environmental contexts, and demonstrate the knowledge of, and need for sustainable development.

Course Syllabus

Module I Basics of Agricultural Drainage

Drainage, objectives of drainage, drainage problems in India

Module II Drainage for Salt Control

Problematic soils and salient terminologies, salt balance of irrigated land, reclamation of chemically degraded soils.

Module III Surface and Subsurface Drainage Systems

Design of surface drainage systems, derivation of Hooghoudt’s and Ernst’s drain spacing equations; design of subsurface drainage systems, investigation of drainage design parameters

Module IV Construction of Pipe Drainage Systems

Materials for drain pipe, drain envelopes, Layout and installation of pipe drains, operation and maintenance of drainage system

Practice

• In-situ measurement of hydraulic conductivity by single auger hole and inverse auger hole method
• Estimation of drainage coefficients
• Determination of permeability of soils by constant head method
• Determination of permeability of soils by falling head method
• Study of the saturated hydraulic conductivity using Guelph Permeameter
• Design of surface drainage systems
• Installation of piezometer and observation wells
• Design of subsurface drainage systems
• Design of gravel envelop

Suggested Reading

• NRCS Part 650 (Engineering Field Handbook): Chapter 14
• Bhattacharya AK and Michael AM. 2013. Land Drainage, Principles , Methods and Applications. Vikas Publication House, Noida (UP)
• Ritzema H.P.1994 Drainage Principles and Applications, ILRI Publication
• Murty and Jha. Land and Water Management Engineering

Session Plan

Session 1

Drainage: Introduction to land drainage, Water logging problem, causes of water logging

PDF: Introduction to land drainage

PDF: Land drainage system

Youtube: Drainage for Reclamation of Waterlogged Saline Soils – India

Session 2

Drainage for Salt Control: Water and salt stress coefficient, Salt balance of irrigated land

PDF: Salt problem in Soil and Water_1

PDF: Salt problem in Soil and Water_2

Youtube: Saline Soils

Youtube: Fixing Saline Soils

Session 3

Quality of Irrigation water, Reclamation of salt and alkali soils

PDF: Salt problem in Soil and Water

Session 4

Introduction to surface drainage system, Different layout of surface drainage system, Drainage coefficient

PDF: Design of Surface Drainage Systems

PDF: Introduction to sub-surface drainage

Youtube: Surface drainage system design-1

Youtube: Surface drainage system design-2

Youtube: Drainage Coefficients

Practice (5.5 hr)

• In-situ measurement of hydraulic conductivity by single auger hole and inverse auger hole method;
• Estimation of drainage coefficients;
• Determination of drainable porosity; design of surface drainage systems;

Session 5

• Introduction to sub-surface drainage
• Subsurface Drainage Design Parameters
  Subsurface Drainage Coefficient
  Hydraulic conductivity
  Drainable Porosity
  Steady flow to drains

PDF: Investigation of Drainage Design Parameters

PDF: Steady-State Flow to Drains

Youtube: Drain Tile Basics

Practice (2 hr)

• Installation of piezometer and observation wells;
• Preparation of iso-bath and isobar maps;

Session 6

Dupuit's assumptions
Hooghoudt's Equation

PDF: Hooghoudt Equation

Practice (1 hr)

• Design of subsurface drainage systems;

Session 7

Earnst's equation
Different cases of tile-drainage placement

PDF: Ernst Equation

Practice (1 hr)

• Design of subsurface drainage systems;

Session 8

Unsteady flow to drains
De-zew Helinga Theorem
Gloverdum equation

PDF: Unsteady State flow to drains

Session 9

Design of pipe/ tile drainage system
Spacing and depth
Gravel pack design

PDF: Design of Pipe Drainage

Practice (2 hr)

• Design of gravel envelop;

Session 10

Materials for pipe drainage system

Layout and Installation of Pipe Drains

PDF: Materials for Pipe Drainage Systems

Practice (1 hr)

• Cost analysis of surface and sub-surface drainage system

Case Studies