Design and Manufacturing of Rainfall Simulator Machine for the Soil Erosion Investigation

The paper focuses on designing, manufacturing, operating, and calibration of rainfall simulator machines at the College of Engineering, Wasit University, to investigate the effect of rainfall intensity on channel sediments due to inter-rills formation rills, gullies, and streams because of soil erosion. Due to the difficulty of concluding the soil erosion and generating sediments in situ, the principles of physical modeling were used to design this machine with variable intensity and achieve high intensity. Steel and PVC materials from the local market formed the main parts of the machine. When the raindrops impact soil, soil particles begin to erode and transport by the runoff. The spray of raindrops causes regular removal of soil particles called sheet erosion or inter-rills erosion, the increasing and concentrating the overland flow led to the form of tiny channels called (Rills), then steep channels called (Gullies). The calibration of the machine and verification of the testing showed that the machine is applicable to use in the laboratory work to simulate the rainfall correctly and can be used to inspect other hydraulic engineering problems. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022.