An expert system for the hydraulic analysis of microirrigation systems

Expert systems are enjoying increased use in engineering design and software development. Over the past several years, the authors have been developing a prototype rule-based expert system for the hydraulic design and evaluation of microirrigation systems. The rule-based system provides an evaluation of a proposed design based upon simple statistics and economics as well as hydraulic design criteria. The hydraulic design and analysis of microirrigation systems is accomplished using the finite element formulation of the flow equations. A computer model called DESIGNER was developed for this purpose. After an evaluation of the design is accomplished, recommendations are made to improve the performance of the system both in terms of uniformity of water application and cost. The current prototype needs additional parameter tuning to cope with ’real-world constraints’ such as discrete pipe sizes. However, the purpose of this study was accomplished by demonstrating the utility and usefulness of a prototype expert system for the hydraulic analysis of microirrigation systems.