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Professor Rod Smith


Name : Professor Rod Smith
Position : Casual Employment
Section : Faculty of Engineering and Surveying
Faculty of Engineering and Surveying Administration
Office : Z305D
Location : Toowoomba Campus
Phone : +61 7 4631 2510
Extension : 2510
E-mail :
Qualifications : DipEng Geelong IT
BEng, MEngSc Melb
PhD UNE


Home Page : http://www.usq.edu.au/users/smithrod
The views expressed on staff homepages may not reflect the views of the University.

Professional Memberships
Fellow, The Institution of Engineers, Australia

Research Interests
Irrigation - Evaluation, simulation, optimisation and real time control of surface irrigation, incl surge & fertigation; infiltration from surface irrigation advance data; precision or prescription irrigation; development of diagnostic tools for mobile sprinkler irrigation systems, incl travelling guns, centre pivot & lateral move machines; irrigation pipeline hydraulics; gated pipe; salinity and leaching.

Recent Research Outcomes
Three most recent :
Koech, RK, Smith, RJ and Gillies, MH (2013) Hydraulics of large diameter gated flexible fluming. Biosystems Engineering, 114: 170-177.

Uddin, J, Hancock, NH, Smith, RJ and Foley, JP (2013) Measurement of evapotranspiration during sprinkler irrigation using a precision energy budget (Bowen ratio, eddy covariance) methodology. Agricultural Water Management, 116: 89-100.

Gillies, MH, Smith, RJ and Raine, SR (2011) Evaluating whole field irrigation performance using statistical inference of inter-furrow infiltration variation. Biosystems Engineering, 110: 134-143.
Most notable :
Smith, RJ, Raine, SR, McCarthy, AC and Hancock, NH (2009) Managing spatial and temporal variation in irrigated agriculture through adaptive control. Australian Journal of Multi-disciplinary Engineering, 7(1): 79-90.

Sohn, JH, Smith, RJ, Yoong, E, Leis, J and Galvin, G (2003) Quantification of odours from piggery effluent ponds using an electronic nose and an artificial neural network. Biosystems Engineering, 86(4), 399-410.

McClymont, DJ and Smith, RJ (1996) Infiltration parameters from optimisation on furrow irrigation advance data. Irrigation Science, 17(1): 15-22.

Smith, RJ (1995) A Gaussian model for estimating odour emissions from area sources. Mathematical & Computer Modelling, Special Issue on Air Quality and Meteorological Modelling, 21(9): 23-29.

Smith, RJ (1993) Dispersion of odours from ground level agricultural sources. Journal of Agricultural Engineering Research, 54: 187-200.

Smith, RJ (1988) Energy loss in branching flow and its application to irrigation pipeline design. Journal of Agricultural Engineering Research, 41: 181-189.

Teaching Experience
Tertiary : 33 years