Agricultural drainage design based on soil modeling

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10255384-B2
Application number	US-201816002972-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 7, 2018
Priority date	Mar 19, 2015
Publication date	Apr 9, 2019
Grant date	Apr 9, 2019

Abstract

Novel tools and techniques might provide for designing and/or implementing a drainage system for an agricultural area, based at least in part on three-dimensional soil modeling. In some embodiments, a computer system may designate one or more locations for installing one or more main drainage pipes within the agricultural area, based at least in part based at least in part on optimization of location and/or costs. The optimization may be based at least in part on the location of at least one main drainage area, and the respective slope, depth to bedrock, and saturated hydraulic conductivity of soil at each of the one or more locations.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of designing and implementing a drainage system for an agricultural area, the method comprising:
creating, with a first computer, a three-dimensional topographic survey for the agricultural area, the three-dimensional topographic survey comprising a location of a main drainage area of the agricultural area, and a respective slope at each of a plurality of locations within the agricultural area;
creating, with the first computer, a three-dimensional soil profile for the agricultural area, the three-dimensional soil profile comprising information about a depth to bedrock, and a saturated hydraulic conductivity of soil at each of the plurality of locations within the agricultural area;
designating, with a second computer, one or more locations for installing one or more main drainage pipes within the agricultural area, based at least in part on an optimization of the location of the main drainage area, and the respective slope, depth to bedrock, and saturated hydraulic conductivity of soil at each of the one or more locations, said optimization comprises applying a bulking factor of topsoil and subsurface materials, wherein designating the one or more locations comprising determining a maximum drainage flow rate for the agricultural area, based at least in part on the maximum rainfall amount; and
sending instructions to at least one pipe installation machine, the instructions causing the at one pipe installation machine to install the one or more drainage pipes at the designated one or more locations based on the determined cross-sectional size, the determined maximum drainage flow rate, and the optimization of the location.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
identifying, with the second computer, one or more elevation points at each of the plurality of locations within the agricultural area, based at least in part on the three-dimensional topographic survey;
identifying, with the second computer, a location of one or more outlet points within the agricultural area where water will drain from the agricultural area; and
determining, with the second computer, a cross-sectional size of the one or more main drainage pipes, based at least in part on the three-dimensional soil profile and the three-dimensional topographic survey;
wherein the one or more locations are further designated based at least in part on the one or more elevation points, and the location of the one or more outlet points.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
calculating, with the second computer, drainage flows for the plurality of locations within the agricultural area, based at least in part on the identified one or more elevation points, the slope, the depth to bedrock, and the saturated hydraulic conductivity at each of the plurality of locations;
wherein designating the one or more locations for installing the one or more main drainage pipes is further based at least in part on an optimization of location that is based at least in part on the calculated drainage flows.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein identifying the location of the one or more outlet points within the agricultural area where water will drain from the agricultural area comprises:
providing, with the second computer, a user interface that allows a user to select outlet points within the agricultural area; and
receiving, with the second computer, user input identifying a location of at least one outlet point within the agricultural area.

5. The method of claim 2 , wherein the location of at least one of the one or more outlet points is determined based, at least in part, on the three-dimensional topographic survey and the three-dimensional soil profile.

6. The method of claim 2 , further comprises:
determining, with the second computer, a drainage area for each of the one or more main drainage pipe, based at least in part on the three-dimensional topographic survey; and
wherein determining the cross-sectional size of the one or more main drainage pipes is based, at least in part, on the three-dimensional soil profile and the three-dimensional topographic survey, and further based at least in part on the drainage area for each main drainage pipe.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining, with the second computer, a maximum rainfall amount for the agricultural area; and
determining, with the second computer, a maximum drainage flow rate for the agricultural area, based at least in part on the maximum rainfall amount, the location of the main drainage area of the agricultural area, and the identified one or more elevation points, the slope, the depth to bedrock, and the saturated hydraulic conductivity of the soil at each of the plurality of locations within the agricultural area;
wherein the one or more locations are further designated based at least in part on the maximum drainage flow rate.

8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:
determining, with the second computer, a cross-sectional size of the one or more main drainage pipes, based at least in part on the maximum drainage flow rate for the agricultural area.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
identifying, with the second computer, a location of each of a plurality of accumulation points within the agricultural area where water will accumulate, based at least in part on the three-dimensional topographic survey and the three-dimensional soil profile;
designating, with the second computer, a location for each of at least one of a plurality of sub-main drainage pipes or a plurality of lateral drainage pipes, based at least in part on an optimization of location that is based at least in part on the location of the one or more main drainage pipes and the location of the plurality of accumulation points; and
determining, with the second computer, a cross-sectional size of each sub-main drainage pipe or each lateral drainage pipe, based at least in part on the three-dimensional soil profile and the three-dimensional topographic survey.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
determining, with the second computer, at least one of a drainage area for each sub-main drainage pipe or a drainage area for each lateral drainage pipe, based at least in part on the three-dimensional topographic survey; and
wherein determining the cross-sectional size of each sub-main drainage pipe or each lateral drainage pipe is further based at least in part on the at least one of the drainage area for each sub-main drainage pipe or the drainage area for each lateral drainage pipe.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
determining, with the second computer, a connection location for each lateral drainage pipe to connect to at least one of a main drainage pipe or a sub-main drainage pipe;
determining, with the second computer, a connection location for each sub-main drainage pipe to connect to a main drainage pipe; and
determining, with the second computer, a connection location for each main drainage pipe to connect to at least one of another main drainage pipe or an outlet point.

12. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
determining, with the second computer, a maximum flow capacity rate for each lateral drainage pipe, based at least in part on the cross-sectional size of that lateral drainage pipe;
determining, with the second computer, a maximum flow capacity rate for each sub-main drainage pipe, based at least in part on the cross-sectional size of that sub-main drainage pipe;
determining, with the second computer, a maximum flow capacity rate for each main drainage pipe, based at least in part on the cross-sectional size of that main drainage pipe; and
confirming

Assignees

• Trimble Inc

Inventors

• Shuler Joshua W
• Van Der Loo Christopher

Classifications

• G06F30/13 Primary

  Architectural design, e.g. computer-aided architectural design [CAAD] related to design of buildings, bridges, landscapes, production plants or roads · CPC title

• G06F17/5004 Primary

  Physics · mapped topic