WATER DROPLET DYNAMICS AND EVAPORATION IN AN IRRIGATION SPRAY

A new approach to droplet evaporation in sprinkler irrigation is presented. A theoretical description is provided and experimental results are shown, proving that some knowledge previously accepted by the scientific community could be less than certain. This article describes three directions of investigation: two theoretical and one experimental. A mathematical model based solely on a dynamic approach achieved results similar to those of far more complicated models, and application of the model demonstrates that, until now, air friction may have been wrongly neglected in computing droplet evaporation. In addition, experimental tests prove that air temperature has a significant effect on droplet evaporation. The three sets of results open a new direction for research on this topic and provide challenges for future investigations.