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ISSN Online: 2379-1748

8th Thermal and Fluids Engineering Conference (TFEC)
March, 26-29, 2023, College Park, MD, USA

EVAPORATION OF WATER FROM OTTAWA SAND USING AIR FLOWS ABOVE AND BELOW THE SAND LAYER

Get access (open in a dialog) pages 839-842
DOI: 10.1615/TFEC2023.esy.045917

Abstract

The primary source of water for crops and livestock in the United States Central High Plains is irrigation from the Ogallala Aquifer. Due to the semi-arid climate of this region, little rainfall contributes to watering crops, thereby resulting in water scarcity. Reducing the evaporation from soil is one approach to conserve the water. In this study, a soil evaporation chamber was designed and constructed to study the impacts of environmental conditions on evaporation from Ottawa sand. Prior to entering the sand test section, compressed air flow was dried in a desiccator then split in two flows before entering the 57mm×228mm×838mm test section, with one airflow flowing above the 57mm thick sand layer and the other below and, subsequently, flowing through the moist sand layer. The percent relative humidity (RH) was measured at the entrance and exit to record the change in relative humidity and, therefore, water content removed from the sand. Using inlet air mass flow rates of air of approximately 1E-4kg/s−2E-4kg/s, temperatures of 28−31°C, and dry air (i.e. 0−1%RH), exit flows of 19−20°C and 80−85%RH were measured. Measured evaporation rates ranging from 3.0E-6kg/s to 5.0E-6kg/s for soil saturation levels of 55−80.5%.