Abstract:In order to simulate fixed spray-plate sprinkler water distribution and Christiansen uniformity (CU) under open field conditions, the method for calculating water distribution was proposed by applying droplet size distribution, simulation of droplet distribution utilize droplet trajectory computations and wind-distored model. The accuracy of water distributions of Nelson D3000 spray sprinkler was validated by comparing simulated with observed patterns, it was found that the software appeared to be an effective predictor of sprinkler performance in wind. Under this premise, the water distribution was simulated at different wind speeds with 4.76mm nozzle diameters (24#), the factors, including wind speed, wind direction, sprinkler spacing, working pressure and riser height, which may affect CU, the wind drift and evaporation losses (WDEL) under different working conditions were analyzed. The results showed that sprinkler spacing had the most important influence on CU at 95% confidence interval, and it was followed by riser height and working pressure, wind speed and wind direction did not significantly affect CU. Increasing wind speed, working pressure or riser height indicated an increase in the OWDEL, and working pressure can dramatically affect the OWDEL on account of smashing large water droplet to pieces. Using this sprinkler, the lateral moving irrigation system can attain a high uniformity coefficient at 2.13~3.14m sprinkler spacing along the lateral when the wind speed was lower than 6m/s, and with this range of mounting spacing, increasing sprinkler riser height or working pressure cannot promote a higher CU distinctly, low working pressure was recommended considering little cost in the design of the sprinkler irrigation system. In addition, decreasing the riser height can reduce WDEL effectively, in order to increase water use efficiency, low height cooperated with plant height was reasonable.