GATE Syllabus - Agricultural Engineering

Farm Machinery and Power

Sources of power on the farm-human, animal, mechanical, electrical, wind, solar and biomass -- design and selection of machinery elements - gears, pulleys, chains and sprockets and belts -- overload safety devices used in farm machinery -- measurement of force, torque, speed, displacement and acceleration on machine elements.

Soil tillage -- forces acting on a tillage tool -- hitch systems and hitching of tillage implements -- functional requirements, principles of working, construction and operation of manual, animal and power operated equipment for tillage. sowing, planting, fertilizer application, inter-cultivation, spraying, mowing, chaff cutting, harvesting, threshing and transport -- testing of agricultural machinery and equipment -- calculation of performance parameters -field capacity, efficiency, application rate and losses -- cost analysis of implements and tractors.

Thermodynamic principles of I.C. engines -- I.C. engine cycles -- engine components -- fuels and combustion -- lubricants and their properties -- I.C. engine systems - fuel, cooling, lubrication, ignition, electrical, intake and exhaust -- selection, operation, maintenance and repair of I.C. engines -- power efficiencies and measurement -- calculation of power, torque, fuel consumption, heat load and power losses.

Tractors and power tillers - type, selection, maintenance and repair -- tractor clutches and brakes -- power transmission systems - gear trains, differential, final drives and power take-off -- mechanics of tractor chassis -- traction theory -- three point hitches - free link and restrained link operations -- mechanical steering and hydraulic control systems used in tractors -- human engineering and safety in tractor design -- tractor tests and performance.

Soil and Water Conservation Engineering

Ideal and Real fluids, properties of fluids -- hydrostatic pressure and its measurement -- hydrostatic forces on plane and curved surface -- continuity equation -- Bernoulli’s theorem -- laminar and turbulent flow in pipes, Darcy-Weisbach and Hazen-Williams equations, Moody’s diagram -- flow through orifices and notches -- flow in open channels.

Engineering properties of soils, fundamental definitions and relationships -- index properties of soils -- permeability and seepage analysis -- shear strength, Mohr’s circle of stresses -- active and passive earth pressures -- stability of slopes.

Hydrological cycle -- precipitation measurement, analysis of precipitation data -- abstraction from precipitation -- runoff -- hydrograph analysis, unit hydrograph theory and application -- stream flow measurement -- flood routing, hydrological reservoir and channel routing.

Mechanics of soil erosion, factors affecting erosion -- soil loss estimation -- biological and engineering measures to control erosion, terraces and bunds -- vegetative waterways -- gully control structures, drop, drop inlet and chute spillways -- farm ponds -- earthen dams -- principles of watershed management.

Water requirement of crops -- consumptive use and evapo-transpiration -- irrigation scheduling -- irrigation efficiencies -- design of prismatic and silt loaded channels -- methods of irrigation water application -- design and evaluation of irrigation methods -- drainage coefficient -- surface and subsurface drainage systems -- leaching requirement and salinity control -- irrigation and drainage water quality -- classification of pumps -- pump characteristics -- pump selection -- types of aquifer -- evaluation of aquifer properties -- well hydraulics -- ground water recharge.

Agricultural Processing and Food Engineering

Steady state heat transfer in conduction, convection and radiation -- transient state heat transfer in simple geometry -- condensation and boiling heat transfer -- working principles of heat exchangers -- diffusive and convective mass transfer -- simultaneous heat and mass transfer in agricultural processing operations.

Material and energy balances in food processing systems -- water activity, sorption and desorption isotherms -- centrifugal separation of solids, liquids and gases -- kinetics of microbial death – pasteurisation and sterilization of liquid foods -- preservation of foods by cooling and freezing -- psychrometry – properties of air-vapour mixture -- concentration and dehydration of liquid foods – evaporators, tray, drum and spray dryers.

Mechanics and energy requirement in size reduction of granular solids -- particle size analysis for comminuted solids -- size separation by screening -- fluidisation of granular solids -- cleaning and grading efficiency and effectiveness of grain cleaners -- conditioning and hydrothermal treatments for grains -- dehydration of food grains -- processes and machines for processing of cereals, pulses and oilseeds -- design considerations for grain silos.