Ingénierie des systèmes d’irrigation et de drainage

Development of Application Tools for Burying and Sizing of Subsurface Drain Tiles

Abstract

Anamelechi Falasy* and Richard Cooke

Our suite of QGIS tools addresses the vital aspects of subsurface drainage systems, crucial for water management in agriculture, civil engineering, and land development. Accurate depth placement and sizing of drainage pipes significantly impact system efficiency, enhancing overall land productivity. Developed to meet this demand, our tools specialize in burying and sizing sub-surface drainage systems. The primary objective is to generate buried elevation depths and pipe sizes for each line segment within the drainage network, sequencing downstream-to-upstream and upstream-to-downstream, respectively. Determining minimum drainage main sizes relies on factors like burying order, end-point elevations, distances, and specified elevation depths and slopes. These user-friendly QGIS tools, utilizing Tile Order, Cumulative Flow Lengths, Burying Slope, and specifications like drain spacing and material, are vital for accurate pipe sizing. Burying and sizing data is exportable in various formats for drain installation machines, and with built-in cost analysis features, they facilitate informed decision-making and budget planning for drainage projects. Optimized for compatibility with all QGIS3 versions, these tools are freely available for download from the QGIS Plugin Repository. Successfully tested with a University of Illinois' South Farm drainage system, they effectively simplify the burying and sizing processes for drainage networks.