Recirculating furrow infiltrometer design guide

Determination of infiltration parameters is critical for the design and operation of efficient furrow irrigation systems. The complexity of the physical processes which govern infiltration in furrows, and the nonhomogeneous, anisotropic conditions which often exist in irrigated fields, have hindered the development of an infiltration theory which can accurately predict infiltration rates based on easily measured soil parameters. Therefore, the practicing irrigation engineer continues to depend on direct measurement of infiltration using infiltrometers or volume balance methods for determining field infiltration during continuous flow or surge flow furrow irrigation. Volume balance methods use advance, surface storage, inflow, and outflow data collected during an irrigation event to determine the infiltration parameters. Elliott and Eisenhauer (1983) outline the details of several volume balance methods for continuous flow irrigation. Latortue (1984) outlines a volume balance technique for estimating infiltration and surface storage for surge flow irrigation. The infiltration parameters determined from these methods are likely to be more representative of average field conditions than data obtained from an infiltrometer