From advanced drip design to centre pivots.
The heavy end of irrigation design — centre pivot and lateral-move machines, advanced dripline and vineyard/orchard design, hydraulic zoning, branching mainlines and submains, air-valve placement and dam yield. Tenselo sizes the whole machine: span and tower schedule, pipe package, sprinkler pack, end gun, pivot duty and the pump behind it — then checks application rate against soil intake before you quote it.
Choose a calculation or design guide
Read a public example, check the required inputs, or explore a calculator. New accounts require approval; start a 14-day free trial.
Valley (Valmont) — 6-span centre pivot, 400 m radius
50 ha full circle · Mildura VIC · sandy loam · bore 400 m away
This abbreviated result preview omits some design inputs. Use the linked worked examples for reproducible arithmetic; review the complete inputs, product data and warnings for a project design.
Why it matters on the job
The machine, not just the duty point
Span and tower schedule, pipe package stepped by velocity, sprinkler pack, drive gearboxes and end gun — the parts list for an actual machine, on your field area and your peak ETo.
The pump behind the pivot, sized properly
The pivot inlet duty is only half the job. Tenselo carries it back through the delivery main and the source lift to a full pump duty — 66.4 L/s at 50.0 m TDH here — and names a candidate pump and motor to price.
Runoff caught before the quote, not after
Outer-span application rate is checked against the soil's intake at your slope. A ratio over about four turns the report amber, because that is water running off the outside of the circle instead of into the crop.
Advanced dripline and vineyard design too
Emitter uniformity end-to-end, lateral and submain sizing, bicarbonate and acid injection to stop drip scaling, and filtration sized to the emitter — the drip side of advanced design, not only the machines.
Hydraulic zoning and branching mainlines
Flows, velocities and node pressures through a non-looped branching network, so shifts and zones balance and the pump sees a steady duty rather than a swinging load.
Air valves, dams and the rest of the scheme
Air-valve locations and types read off a pipeline elevation profile, and monthly dam yield against demand with spills, deficits and reliability.
Centre pivot design: connect the machine, water and soil
Centre pivot design, also written center pivot design, connects the irrigated area and crop requirement to flow, sprinkler distribution, pressure and operating time. A machine configuration must also suit the site geometry, terrain and equipment limits.
The centre pivot design guide works through a hypothetical 300 m radius machine: its area, daily supply flow, radial flow allocation and time to apply a selected gross depth. It then identifies the pressure, sprinkler and drive checks needed for a complete design.
Explore the centre pivot machine design calculator and sprinkler package calculator, alongside the advanced irrigation tools below. Keep supplier dimensions, nozzle charts, regulator requirements and site levels with the project inputs.
20 Irrigation Advanced Design calculators
Every calculator in this category, by its reference code. Running them requires an approved Tenselo account with access to the relevant calculators.
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ISD-001 Air-Valve Placement from Profile
Recommends air-valve locations and types from a pipeline elevation profile
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ISD-002 Bicarbonate Neutralisation / Acid Injection
Acid dose and injection rate to cut alkalinity/bicarbonate and reduce drip scaling
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ISD-003 Branching Mainline / Submain Tree
Flows, velocities and node pressures through a non-looped branching network
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ISD-004 Dam Yield / Monthly Storage Reliability
Monthly dam water balance vs demand - spills, deficits and reliability
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ISD-005 Drip Flush Manifold / Flush Velocity
Flush flow, time and manifold/valve size to flush a drip block at the target velocity
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ISD-006 Fertiliser Stock Solubility / Tank Size
Checks whether a fertiliser mass dissolves in the batch tank at temperature
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ISD-007 Field Fertigation Nutrient Injection
Product mass, injection rate and tank from a nutrient target (kg/ha or ppm)
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ISD-008 Filter Station Backwash Sequencing
Can the station backwash while still supplying the field? Flow, vessels online and wash water
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ISD-009 Intake Screen / Trash-Rack Sizing
Screen face area from flow, approach velocity, open area and fouling allowance
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ISD-010 Media Filter Bed Expansion
Backwash flow, indicative bed expansion and freeboard/washout check
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ISD-011 Network Pressure Balance / HGL
Hydraulic grade line along a mainline to each outlet/valve block (Hazen-Williams)
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ISD-012 PC Emitter Range Check
Checks emitters stay inside the pressure-compensating band (or estimates non-PC flow variation)
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ISD-013 Pipe Buoyancy / Flotation Check
Will a buried/submerged pipe float when empty? Uplift vs weight + soil cover, with FoS
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ISD-014 Pipeline Fill, Drain & Air-Release Time
Fill/drain time, fill velocity and the air an air-valve must pass on a pipeline
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ISD-015 Pump Intake Submergence / Vortex Check
Minimum submergence to stop a vortex, plus floor/wall clearance and screen approach velocity (ANSI/HI 9.8)
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ISD-016 Pump Station Staging & VSD Setpoint
Pump count, VSD speed and pressure setpoint for a station feeding several demand groups
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ISD-017 Restrained Length / Anchor Length
Thrust at a fitting and the restrained-joint length to resist it by soil friction (DIPRA/AWWA design aid)
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ISD-018 Settling Basin / Silt Trap Sizing
Surface area and volume to settle sand/silt ahead of filtration (overflow-rate basis)
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ISD-019 Sprinkler Application Rate vs Soil Intake
Checks sprinkler precipitation rate against soil infiltration for runoff and cycle-soak
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ISD-020 Whole-Farm Water Budget
Seasonal crop water demand vs allocation, storage and peak-day supply
The centre pivot machine design and pivot pumping-cost calculators are filed under Irrigation — Field & Crop, alongside the scheduling, uniformity and sprinkler-pack tools they work with.
IRR-006, IRR-021 See Irrigation — Field & Crop →
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