DIMSUB, a computer program for designing microirrigation subunits. Tool definition and case studies

ABSTRACT: DIMSUB is a computer program to complement a decision support tool (DST) to effectively study different hydraulic design alternatives in microirrigation systems. We developed environments in Visual Basic for applications for Microsoft Excel® that allow specific step-by-step functions to be created for the design of irrigation subunits. Different alternatives can be considered, such as types of emitter, lateral and submain pipe sizes, different feeding points, irregular subunit shapes and topography slopes. Furthermore, specific uniformity criteria need to be considered to achieve efficient water applications and proper design systems. Lengths of run lateral and submain pipes, position of the hydrant connection, pressure head and head loss in pipes or pressure-compensating emitters can be assigned to evaluate the results and choose the best design alternative. This user-friendly tool to study hydraulic variables is expected to be a valuable aid for the decision-making process in designing irrigation systems. Some examples of practical cases under specific crop conditions to design drip irrigation subunits are given using DIMSUB.