IRRIGATION CANALS

alignment & design

Ghanta Surender
Former Director(ITC) &
Senior Faculty Member
WALAMTARI
 CANALS
 Canal is an artificial channel constructed
on the ground to carry water to fields
from a river or tank or reservoir.
 Canals can be classified as Permanent
canal (canal from dam/tank etc) and
Inundation canal (canal to take water
from river high stages) .
 Classification of canals
 Canals

 Productive Canals  Protective Canals

(Yields Revenue) (Relief canals in famine area)
 Classification of canals based on
function

 Canals Irrigation Canals

Power Canals

Navigation Canals

Feeder Canals
Navigation canal of Ganga River
 Classification of canals based on
Alignment
 Canals
Ridge canals

Contour canals

Side slope canals

Ridge Canal
Contour Canal
 Command Area
 Gross Command Area: (G.C.A) Gross area that can
be irrigated by a canal is Gross Command Area. This
is defined by drainage area on eitherside .
 Cultivable Command Area. (C.C.A) This is the
portion of area within G.C.A where irrigation is
possible. The area of ponds, mounds, towns, villages,
roads, forests etc are to be excluded from G.C.A to
get C.C.A
 Irrigation Canal Network
 Main canal: Conveys water from Project to Branch
canal /distributary.
 Branch Canal: Receiving supply from Main canal and
feeds distributary
 Distributary: Water way from Main/Branch canal to
laterals
 Laterals: Water way from distributary to field channel
 Field channel: Water from outlet of a distributary
system to the field.Carrying capacity is about 1 cusec.
 Major distributary: Off takes from the main
canal with head discharge of more than 1
cumec and up to 14 cumecs (500 cusecs).
 Minor distributary: All off takes taking off
from a major distributary serving more than
100 acres are termed as minor distributaries.
 Field channels: All pipe off takes serving less
than 100 acres are called field channels. These
are denoted as left or right side pipes.
 CANAL ALIGNMENT
 The Layout which ensures economy, equitable,
efficient distribution of water to maximum
command is the best alignment.
 The sill level of Irrigation sluice is fixed by the
working tables of the project.
 The falling contour is traced on the topo sheet
and GCA for main canal is broadly fixed .
Tentative alignment is fixed on the ground in
the preliminary survey.
 CANAL ALIGNMENT
 Topo-Sheets: These are maps published by
Survey of India in scales 1:50000 and
1:250000. This gives topography of the area
with contours.
 Revenue Survey Maps: Published by Land and
Resettlement Department in scales 1”=660’
and 1”=330’ indicates survey nos of revenue
lands with details like cultivated,barren,
forests,tankbeds etc
 CANAL ALIGNMENT
 The Survey will be done from apex to apex
with the designed falling contour for the bed
slope.
 Simultaneously contour survey map of the
command area (scale 1:10,000 for macro
network planning and 1:2500 for micro
network planning)for including the
allignment is to be prepared.
 CANAL ALIGNMENT
 Strip Contour surveys at 1m interval for major
canals and 0.5m interval for minor canals up to
twice the top width of canal on either side of
centre line shall be carried out.
 The alignment is generally taken in contour
cutting. Alternative alignment shall be
considered on grounds of economy,
hydraulics and field conditions .
 CANAL ALIGNMENT
 The alignment should run as far as possible
along the FSL contour avoiding higher
embankments and deep cuts.
 Discharge cut off statements are to be prepared
reach wise (design purpose) or distributaries'
wise (operational purpose)
 Canal section changes if there is reduction of
canal discharge by 10% to 20%.
 Cross regulators /drops are to be proposed at
change of section or change of bed fall or at
maximum interval of 40 km to take care of
breaching of embankment sections
 CANAL ALIGNMENT
 Sluices at the head of the large distributors are
to be capable of passing full supply into the
distributary with three fourth discharges at
head to half supply in the tail end i.e, when the
parent canal discharge is about 20%.
 Canal drops are needed when the slope of the
ridge is steeper than the canal bed slope.
Canal Drops
Canal Drops
Canal structures for flow
regulation
Curves in Canals
 Curves in Canals
 As far as possible avoid curves or limit the
number.Bends in canals shall be set-out as
circular curves and the minimum radius
measured from the central line of the canal
should not be less than:
 For large canals (more than 0.7 cumecs or 25
cusecs), 15 times the bed width
 For small canals (less than 0.7 cumecs or 25
cusecs), 10 times the bed width
 CANAL ALIGNMENT
 The driving head should not be less than 15
cms
 The sill level of the sluice should be such that
they get lower and lower as the location go
towards the tail end.
 CM and CD works are to be avoided in curves.
 Avoid canal siphons and flumed sections
 Inlets also to be avoided.
 Avoid skew crossings of bridges and CM/CD
works
Alignment Approving Authority

1 Canal carrying Chief Engineer

above 3 Cumecs

2 Canal carrying Superintending

between 0.3 to 3 Engineer
Cumecs

3 Canal carrying less Executive Engineer

than 0.3 Cumecs
TYPICAL SECTION OF CANAL G.L. < ½ FSD
TYPICAL SECTION OF CANAL FULL CUTTING
CANAL SECTION IN DEEPCUT
 Note: Where the depth of cut is more than
twice the FSD or the same shall be considered
as deep cut.
 Berms of 1m wide shall be provided in deep
cuts at a height of 6m from the CBL or at (FSL
+ FB) and at every 6m there after upto the
ground level.
 The above slopes are recommended for depth
of cutting / height of embankment upto
FSD+FB. For depths of cutting / embankment
more than 6m height detailed studies for
stability of slopes is recommended.
 Cut and Cover
 For small discharges upto 50 cusecs, it is preferable to
carry the discharge through pipe having a minimum
diametre of 1.20m. If the length of the cover duct is
more, then inspection chambers at every 50 m shall be
provided.
 For discharge more than 50 cusecs, it is preferable to
construct box type structure. From practical
consideration, minimum size of box size may be kept at
1.2m x 1.5m and minimum thickness of box shall be
kept at 25 cms.
 Canal Bed fall for Contour canals
Note:- These bed fall are general guide lines. However, the
bed fall has to be finalised based on the type of strata,
Particulars Bed fall
contour cut, deep cut, atchkat, field condition etc,

Main Canal 3000 to 5500

Distributaries and 2000 to 2500
Anicut channels
Minors 1500 to 2000
  Permissible Velocity in Unlined canal
sections
Particulars Velocity in
m/sec
B C soil 0.23 to 0.3
Murrum 0.4 to 0.6
Soft Rock 0.60 to 1.25
Hard Rock 1.25 to 2.0
 Permissible Velocity in Lined canal sections

Particulars Velocity in
m/sec
Main Canal 1.5 to 2
Distributaries 0.75 to 1
Laterals 0.50 to 0.75
Field Channels 0.3 to 0.5
 Recommended Side slopes

Particulars Side Slope

In Contour cutting
Hard strata / Soft rock without 1:1
blasting
BC Soil 1.5 : 1 to 2 : 1
Ordinary Strata 1.5 : 1
In Deep cuts
Soft murram or gritty soil 1.5 : 1
Hard murram 1: 1
Soft rock requiring blasting 0.5 : 1
 Recommended Side slopes
Particulars Side Slope
In Deep cuts
Hard rock 0.25 : 1
BC Soil 2 : 1 to 2.5 : 1
Embankment
Available useful excavated 1.5 : 1 to 2 : 1
stuff
Hard clay or gravel 1.5 : 1 to 2 : 1
Soft clay 1.5 : 1 to 2.5 : 1
loam / BC Soil 2 : 1 to 3 : 1
 Free Board in Canal
Sl No. Discharge in Cumecs Free Board in
metres
1 Below 0.5 Cumec 0.15
2 0.5 Cumecs to less than 1 0.30
Cumec
3 1 Cumec to less than 3 Cumecs 0.45

4 3 Cumec to less than 15 Cumecs 0.60

5 15 Cumec to less than 30 0.75

Cumecs
6 Equal to and above 30 Cumecs 1.00
 Minimum width of Roads

Sl Particulars SR in m IP in m
No.
1 Main Canal 4.5 2.5

2 Distributaries 3.75 1.25

3 Laterals 1.50 1.00

 Hydraulic gradient line
Empirical values for banks of height less than 5m

 For silty soils 4:1

 For silty sands 5:1
 For sandy soils 6:1
 The hydraulic gradient line shall have a cover of 0.3 m
 For embankments more than 5 m height the true position of the
saturation line shall be worked out by laboratory tests and
stability of the slope checked.
Hydraulic gradient line

TYPICAL SECTION OF CANAL WHOLLY IN FILLING

 Crop Seasons

 Khariff crop: These are sown in the beginning of south

west monsoon and harvested by the end of khariff. (June
to November)
 Rice, Maize Jowar Pulses are crops grown in khariff
season
 Rabi crops: Sown in October and harvested in April
(Rabi season)
 Wheat, Grams & potato are crops grown in Rabi season.
 Perennial Crop &Garden crop : Require water through
out the year. Sugar cane & Mulberry
 Duty & Delta
 DUTY: Duty is the area in hectares (acres) of
crop irrigated by one cumec (cusec) of water
during the entire Base period of the crop.
 DUTY= 8.64 * (Base Period/ DELTA)
 Duty will be expressed in ha/cumec or
acre/cusec or acres/mcft.
 Duty & Delta
 Crop Period: Period from Sowing to Harvesting.
 Base Period: Time from first watering of a crop to its
last watering. For practical purpose both are
considered equal and represented in days.
 DELTA : Total depth of water over the irrigated land
required by the crop for the entire base period of the
crop.
 Duty & Delta

Crops Delta in
cm
Rice 125-150
Sugarcane 90
Tobacco 60
Groundnut/ Maize 45
Cotton 40
Wheat 37.5
 Duty & Delta
 If Paddy requires 10 cm depth of water at an average
interval of 10 days & crop period is 120 days, Find
Delta & Duty of Paddy.
 Number of waterings - 120/10 = 12 Nos.
 Depth of Each watering = 10 cm
 Delta Paddy = 12 X 10 =120 cm.=1.2 m
 Duty = 8.64 (120/1.2) = 864 Ha/cumec
 864 Ha = 864 X 2.471 = 2135 Acres.
 1 cumec =35.315 cusecs.
 Duty = 2135 /35.315 = 60.45 Acres/Cusec.
 60.45 X 24 X60 X 60 /106 = 5.22 acres/mcft
 Duty & Delta as per MI norms
For Monsoon rainfall upto 30 ”
Duty for wet crops in Khariff : 6 acres/mcft
 Duty for wet crops in Rabi : 3 acres/mcft
 Duty for semidry crops in Khariff :20 acres/mcft
 Duty for semidry crops in Rabi : 12 acres/mcft
 Duty & Delta as per MI norms
 For Monsoon rainfall more than 30 ”
 Duty for Khariff wet crops to be estimated by
consumptive use method. (Modified Penman’s
Method)
 and should not be proposed for Khariff semidry
since rainfall alone is sufficent
 Same values of 3 acres/mcft and 12 acres/mcft are
to be retained for Rabi crops.
 consumptive use method
 Consumptive use or Evapotranspiration by a crop
is the depth of water consumed by evaporation
and transpiration during crop growth.
 Quantity Evapotranspiration differs during stages
of plant growth
 Evaporation is the transfer water from liquid state
to vapour state.
 Transpiration is process by which plants dissipate
water from green parts of their body.
 Modified Penman’s Method
 Consumptive use : Cu=PE X Kc
 PE: Monthly Potential Evapotranspiration
 Kc: Crop coefficient.
 Water for Land Preparation is to be added.
 For Paddy 200 to 250 mm & Semidry 100 mm
 Percolation loss at 3-5mm/day is to be added.
 Total monthly water requirement is obtained.
 Irrigation Water Requirement
 Deduct Rainfall Contribution from the monthly
requirement to get Net Irrigation Requiement.
 Monthly effective rainfall= 50% monthly dependable
Rainfall
 Rainfall contribution = 50% monthly effective rainfall.
 Gross Irrigation Requirement= NIR/60%
 Find out Gross requirement for all crops in the proposed
command
 Losses considered to find
required discharge
 Rush Irrigation at 10% to 20% of duty
requirement.
 Conveyance losses for lined canals at 17.65 %
of the above calculated discharge.
 Conveyance losses for unlined canals at 50%
of the above calculated discharge.
 Minimum size of the canal to be adopted shall
have 0.45m BW, 0.30 m FSD and 0.15 m FB
 CANAL DESIGN
 Canal Parameters (Traphizoidal Section)
 Bed Width = B
 Side Slopes = k
 Full Supply Depth = y
 Bed slope = S
 Manning’s Roughness Coefficient = N
 CANAL DESIGN
 Typical Canal Section

FREE BOARD

k
FSD
SIDE SLOPE 1

BED WIDTH
 CANAL DESIGN
 Area of Flow= A= (B+Ky)y
 Wetted Perimeter = P = B+2y √ (1+k2 )
 Hydraulic Radius = R= A/P
 Velocity Of Flow = V= (R2/3 S1/2 ) /N
 Discharge= Q d= A X V
 Compare design discharge with the
required discharge and revise the section
if required.
CANAL LINING
 WHY CANAL SHOULD BE LINED ?
 Irrigation Water is a Costly commodity. Our
country has spent Rs 1,15,000 Crores since
Independence up to 2002 (end of 9th five year
Plan ) for irrigation.
 The seepage loss in a canal is about 50% in
Unlined Canals.
 The seepage loss in a canal can be reduced to
2% to 5% by providing lining even though the
cost of lined canal is about 2-2.5 times more
than unlined canal
 Advantages of Lining
 Reduction in seepage losses reduces
impounding capacity of storage work there by
indirectly reducing its cost of construction.
 Unlined canals raises the water table in the
surrounding area. Sometimes Uncontrolled
seepage may waterlog the surrounding area
and cause salinity (Bringing up the alkaline
salts to the ground Surface ) rendering the
land unfit for cultivation.
 Advantages of Lining
 The carrying capacity of the existing unlined
canal will be considerably increased by
providing lining because of reduction in
Manning’s roughness coefficient.
 For a new project Lined canal requires smaller
cross sections and shorter lengths (Higher
permissible velocity)
 It is also possible to provide flatter slopes
( reduced silting rate ) hence command can be
increased.
 Advantages of Lining
Unlined canal requires higher maintenance
cost due to
1) Periodical accumulation of weeds & water
plants
2) Periodical accumulation of silt
3) Plugging of cracks cuts uneven settlements
holes by burrowing animals
4) Occurrence of breach is more in unlined
canals
 Types of Lining
 1) Stone-pitched lining;
 2) Burnt clay tile or brick lining;
 3) Burnt bricks or pulverized fuel ash-lime
 4) Precast cement concrete/stone slab lining;
 5)Cement concrete tile lining;
 6) In situ cement/lime concrete lining;
 Types of Lining
 7) Stone masonry lining;
 8) Soil cement/soil cement and flyash lining;
 9) Shotcrete lining;
 10) Ferrocement lining; and
 11) Asphaltic cement concrete lining
 Types of Lining
 1) Geomembrane like High Density
Polyethylene(HDPE), Polyvinyl chloride
(PVC), Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE)
 2) Bituminous lining,
 3) Fibre reinforced plastic tissue as phallic
membrane, and Composite membrane/rubber
lining.
 Cast in situ Cement Concrete
Lining
 M15 Concrete is used for CC lining. This is
Durable impermeable and hydraulically
efficient.
 Initial cost is high, needs skilled supervision
and construction, less flexible and gets
affected by subgrade conditions
 Cast in situ Cement Concrete
Lining
 In general, for all sizes of canals, CC lining in
M15CC 20mm D/S shall have to be adopted.
For scoured reaches, depending on the scoured
thickness, UCRS masonry or lean concrete
may be used for back filling. If scour is less
than 30 cms lean concrete in M10 40mm D/S
and for more than 30 cms UCRS masonry in
1:6 CM may be adopted.
 Cast in situ Cement Concrete
Lining
 In case of soft and slushy soil the canal bed
may be lined on 30cm thick murrum filling
instead of sand and boulder filling.
 Reinforcement at the rate of 3.50 Kg / Sqm
shall be provided for the canal lining in
vulnerable reaches viz., embankments on
either side of any CD work, soft soil reaches.
 Cast in situ Cement Concrete
Lining
 In case of deep cut reaches where the stratum
is of hard rock, the canal need not be lined.
However, depending on the undulations only
bed may be lined. Further, geologist opinion
regarding the stability of slope and type of
rock etc., shall prerequisites for deciding on
the lining in deep cut reaches.
 In case of deep cut reaches of more than
couple of kilometres, where the strata is of soft
rock, then lining may be done by keeping 0.5 :
1 side slope.
 Lining Thickness
 In case of CC lining, based on the discharge the
following lining thickness shall be adopted:
Sl Discharge in Cumecs Thickness Remarks
No. for both
bed &
sides in
cms
1 Upto 1 Cusec - Lining is not
required
2 Above 1 cusec and 7.50
below 20 Cusecs
3 Equal to and above 20 10.00
Cusecs
 Lining Height
Sl Free Board Height Lining Remarks
No. in metres Height
1 0.15 m FSD + FB Contour cut &
Deep cut
2 0.30m,0.45m& FSD + ½ FB Contour cut &
0.60 m Deep cut
3 0.75m & 0.9m FSD +0.30 m Contour cut &
Deep cut
4 Embankment Reach FSD + FB
 C N S backing in B C Soil Reach
Sl Discharge in Thickness of CNS layer in cms (Min) Remarks
No. Cumecs
Swelling pressure Swelling pressure
50 to 150 KN / more than 150
Sqm KN/Sqm

1 1.4 – 2 60 75 The
thickness of
2 0.7 – 1.4 50 60 CNS layer
3 0.3 – 0.7 40 50 above FB
and upto GL
4 0.03 – 0.3 30 40 shall be 20
cms
 C N S backing in B C Soil Reach
for discharge more than 2 cumecs.
Sl Swelling Thickness of Remarks
No. pressure KN / CNS layer in
Sqm cms (Min)
1 50 – 150 75 The thickness of
CNS layer above FB
2 150 – 300 80 and upto GL shall be
20 cms
3 300 – 500 100
 C N S backing in B C Soil Reach

 The canal side slope has to be

kept at 1 : 1.5 and it shall be lined
upto FSD+FB.
 The properties of the CNS soil
and the procedure to be adopted
shall be as per IS-9451.
 Templates
Templates are to be provided for canal
lining for canals having discharge
more than 10 cusecs.
30 cms x 20 cms size template for both
bed and sides with reinforcement, at
12.30 m C/C.
Reinforcement shall be 4 nos of 8mm
diameter rods stirrups of 8 mm
diameter at 30 cms C/C.
 Pressure relief pipes with filter backing
Pressure relief pipes may be avoided for small
canals having discharge less than 50 Cusecs.
Pressure relief pipes may be provided for canals
having discharge more than 50 Cusecs as
under:
GI pipe of 50 mm diameter with filter backing
for both bed and sides in the canal lining
It shall be provided only in the contour cut
reach of the main canal where hydrostatic
pressure is likely to occur.
  It shall be provided as per IS : 4558- 1983 (or
latest version) and shall be staggered.
 Number of rows on the slope of canal shall be

such that for each 4m width along the slope a

row shall be provided.
 Pipe shall be placed inclined towards the canal.

 Joints
 For lining using slip form centring, construction

joints at every 3m and expansion joints at 12.30

m c/c shall be provided with appropriate filler
material.
A Presentation by
G.V.Surendra
Research Officer
Hydraulics Branch-II, K.E.R.S
K.R.Sagara
Contact: Mob:9480168029
Email: surendragv1960@gmail.com
THANK YOU