Ricardo D. Rosa

SIMDualKc, A Software Tool for Water Balance Simulation Based on Dual Crop Coefficient

SIMDualKc is a software application for soil water balance simulation, based on the dual cropcoefficient (Kcb + Ke). The main goal of this software is to develop a tool to compute crop waterrequirements, particularly focused on vegetables and orchards, which have high irrigation frequencies andhave a fraction of the ground surface with bare soil during the irrigation season. This model was developedeither to operate alone carrying out all the computational procedures or to be integrated with other irrigationscheduling models, such as WINSAREG for the adoption of the dual Kc approach. In addition, this modelcan also be used to real-time irrigation scheduling, for assessing the evolution of the soil water content. TheSIMDualKc model was developed using a three tiers architecture approach. Thus, three differentcomponents were built: a graphic user interface (GUI), a mathematical model and a database. Thecomputational module was built to enable an easy integration with the WINISAREG model or to beoperated alone through the GUI. This feature was achieved using two abstract interfaces: one that links thecomputation module with the GUI or with a selected model; the other to perform the connection with thedifferent databases using queries. The data structure of this model, clearly separating the algorithmprocedures from the database, enables the connection of this application to different databases, including ageoreferenced database (GIS). This model was validated for the irrigation project of Fergana valley,Uzbequistan, showing a good adherence of model results to field observations.