PA—Precision Agriculture: Agricultural Sprays in Cross-flow and Drift

✍ Scribed by M. Farooq; R. Balachandar; D. Wulfsohn; T.M. Wolf

• Book ID: 102577174
• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2001
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 393 KB
• Volume: 78
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0021-8634
• DOI: 10.1006/jaer.2000.0660

✦ Synopsis

The droplet size and velocity characteristics of an agricultural spray were studied in a wind tunnel in the presence of a non-uniform cross-#ow. The spray was generated at three nozzle-operating pressures. The droplet size and velocity was measured in both the cross-#ow direction and the vertical direction using a phase Doppler particle analyser.

From the size}velocity measurements, it was found that many droplets immediately behind the spray sheet were found to be travelling in a direction opposite to the cross-#ow. Further away from the nozzle, some small droplets had a velocity directed upwards. A size}velocity correlation factor was adopted to discuss the potential drift of the droplets. For the lower pressure, at a distance of 100 mm below the nozzle exit, the droplets are prone to drift at all downstream locations. At the higher pressure, the droplets are prone to drift beyond a distance ratio (x/z) of two. Here, x is the distance in the cross-#ow direction and z is the vertical distance below the nozzle exit. The behaviour of droplets of two particular size classes (&38 and 70 m) were also investigated and found that the smaller droplets were subjected to an increased cross-#ow e!ect.