Investigation of flow pattern in an innovative nozzle: An experimental and numerical study in agricultural systems

Abstract

In modern or mechanized agriculture, chemical spraying is employed to control weed and prevent pest damage. It is very important to spray the chemicals (herbicides, pesticides, fungicides) very carefully and correctly using suitable tools to control weed and pests while keeping the environmental and health risks at very low level. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to study the effects of different factors on the behavior and movement patterns of sprayed particles from the beginning of the spraying to the end when the particles reach the plant. Therefore, for this purpose, in this study, the effect of three levels of pressure 2, 3 and 4 on the distribution of volumetric volume of fluid particles after exiting from Tee jet nozzles 110-02, 110-03, 110-04 and one newly designed nozzle has been investigated. This was performed by experimental and numerical methods using Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) method. The results revealed that the spraying pressure and nozzle type had significant effects on the particles volumetric distribution (p < 0.01). All the treatments differed significantly. The innovative nozzle had the highest spraying performance at all the three pressures compared to the other nozzles. Among the Tee jet nozzles, the nozzle 110-03 has the best distribution of particle frequencies.