Proposal of Basic Concepts on Water Serviceability in Irrigation Canal Systems

Abstract

This study examined basic concepts and regulations on the fundamental performance of hydraulic ability and water serviceability for irrigation canal systems in performance based design and projects. Methods of verifying the performance of an existing system and the water serviceability design solution are arranged and criterion indexes, which are performance based design targets or evaluation indexes, are proposed. The regulatory principle chiefly conforms to the comprehensive foundation design code (Geocode 21) of the Japanese Geotechnical Society. The basic functions of this system are classified into six main types including the environment in a broad sense. Each function is defined from a basic regulation, and a tentative plan for making a layered structure is shown. The water conveyance and distribution ability, scheme management method and hydraulic conveyance ability are identified as basic performance requirements. Irrigation efficiency, travel time of water and total lifecycle cost subordinated to the hydraulic head allocation of the systems are set as indexes for water conveyance and distribution ability. The performance of each item varies according to the pattern, and an example of each performance index is introduced.