Construction and calibration of a bar weighing lysimeter

• Autor(a) principal: Mariano, Daiane de Cinque
• Data de Publicação: 2015
• Outros Autores: Faria, Rogerio Teixeira de [UNESP], Lourenco de Freitas, Paulo Sergio, Lena, Bruno Patias, Johann, Andre Luiz [UNESP]
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Institucional da UNESP
• Texto Completo: http://dx.doi.org/10.4025/actasciagron.v37i3.19368; http://hdl.handle.net/11449/164894
• topic: evapotranspiration; water balance; soil water

Generally, standard lysimeters include a lever-load cell scale, which has become expensive compared to new electronic equipment available for experimental purposes. Currently, lysimeters containing weighing bars with up to 4 load cells are economically feasible. This goal of this study was to present the construction and calibration of four weighing lysimeters built using two rectangular tanks, with a surface area of 1.35 m(2) (1 m by 1.35 m) and a depth of 1.5 m, loaded on two weighing bars. Each bar had two high accuracy loading cells connected to a junction box and a datalogger by a coaxial cable. Calibration of each lysimeter was performed after field installation. The results showed a linear response (R-2 > 0.9999) of electric signal (mV) to mass increase or decrease (kg) with minimum hysteresis. The mean absolute error of the mass estimate (0.0245 to 0.2844 equivalent-mm) and a Willmott index between the observed and estimated data (d = 1.0000) indicate the high precision of the new equipment. The results allow concluding that the lysimeters in this study are appropriate for estimating evapotranspiration and other components of soil water balance.