Development and evaluation of an upstream fuzzy control system model for irrigation canals

Limited water resources for agricultural use and poor performance of irrigation networks equire optimal water consumption by application of improved control systems. Fuzzy theory has been widely and successfully applied in several engineering control problems. In this research fuzzy theory has been applied for control of water levels in irrigation canals. Using the ICSS hydrodynamic model, the fuzzy developed model is tested in E1-R1 canal of Dez Irrigation network. The performance of fuzzy control system is evaluated using several criteria such as, maximum absolute error, cumulative absolute error, and response time. Flow, depth, and gate opening variations in time are depicted and analyzed as well. The results show that average and maximum depth deviation were in the range of 0.017% to 0.143% and 0.667% to 1.222%,respectively. The maximum response time for water depth to be stabilized within 1% range of target depth was 6.6 minutes. Considering high flow variations in the canal, the results indicate that the developed fuzzy control system is successful in water depth control of irrigation canals.