One of the features an irrigation system is that it spreads water uniformly across a given plot of land. In an attempt to duplicate this feature of irrigation systems in this PBL, students will build an irrigation system, with actual PVC pipe, that distributes water as uniformly as possible to each of the different containers. Students may only use hydrostatic pressure and the earth's gravitational pull as the force to move the water through the PVC pipe; students cannot make any adjustments to the plastic containers in the given box. Students must use only materials on the "Material List" to build the irrigation system, and they will record the cost of building the irrigation system. The cost of the system will help them generate an invoice used to bill the customer.
Students must design the irrigation system so the water depth in each container is 1.25 inches. Students will have a main water source that will hold all the water used for one cycle of the irrigation system.
When students run the irrigation system through the cycle, they will fill the water main with a pre-calculated amount of water (i.e., enough water to fill each container with 1.25 inches of water). Then they will run turn the valve so that the water runs through the system and consequently fill each water container. Students must record how long it takes the irrigation system to run through one cycle and try to minimize the amount of time it takes to uniformly disperse the water.
Once students have finished their irrigation system (i.e. designed, built, tested, and refined the system), they will present their irrigation designs to an irrigation contractor and justify their designs. With the irrigation contractor present, students will run their irrigation systems through one cycle. Once the cycle is complete students will measure the water level (height) for each container and report to the contractor how accurately the irrigation systems dispersed the water