Key design principles

Although we would not recommend making your own design – unless you have an understanding of design, of course – it is beneficial to have some knowledge of design principles. These will enable you to better understand your system, and will also enable some back-of-envelope calculations.

 

Peak water requirement

The objective of an irrigation system is to replace the amount of water transpired by the plant and evaporated from the soil and plant that is not supplied by natural rainfall.

This amount varies during the season, but there will be a peak water demand. For the purpose of design, this is the number we care about the most as it is the “max” the system needs to handle.

For more information, see Evapotranspiration.

 

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