VCGP Storm Drainage Systems Design Criteria-1
VCGP Storm Drainage Systems Design Criteria-1
VCGP Storm Drainage Systems Design Criteria-1
2. PIPE LENGTH
a. Culverts shall extend to where the crown of the pipe intersects finished grade.
b. The length requirement, however, shall be subject to requirements for maintaining
stream buffers.
3. DESIGN SLOPE
a. Velocities over 10 fps in a pipe of any material shall be considered a special design
with particular attention required to pipe invert protection and the ability of the
receiving waterway or detention facility to accept the flow without damage.
b. The minimum allowable slope shall be one (1) percent.
c. The maximum allowable slope for a concrete storm drainage pipe shall be 10
percent and for a HDPE pipe shall be 14 percent. Greater slopes may be approved if
installation is in accordance with manufacturer's recommendations. In cases where
the slope is in excess of 10 percent, anchor collars may be required.
d. A minimum pipe cover of 12 inches shall be required.
6. CULVERTS
a. Frequency Flood:
The design storm for a culvert for all pavements and ground soil is using future
development land use conditions.
b. Velocity Limitations:
Both minimum and maximum velocities should be considered when designing a
culvert. The maximum velocity should be consistent with channel stability
requirements at the culvert outlet. There is no specified maximum allowable
velocity for reinforced concrete pipe, but outlet protection shall be provided where
discharge velocities will cause erosion problems. Maximum slope using concrete
pipe is 10% before pipe restraining methods must be taken. Maximum drop in a
drainage structure is 1.0 meter
.
7. TAILWATER CONSIDERATIONS
The hydraulic conditions downstream of the culvert site must be evaluated to determine
a tailwater depth for a range of discharge. At times there may be a need for calculating
backwater curves to establish the tailwater conditions. The following conditions must be
considered:
8. Storage
If storage water tank is being assumed upstream of the culvert, consideration should be
given to:
• The total area of flooding.
The following example will illustrate the hydrologic calculations needed for storm
drain design using the rational formula shows a hypothetical storm drain system
that will be used in this example. Following is a tabulation of the data needed to
use the rational equation to calculate inlet flow rate for the seven inlets shown in the
system layout.
Hydrologic Data
Drainage Time of Rainfall Inlet
b
Area
a
Concentration Intensity Runoff Flow Rate
Inlet (acres) (minutes) (inches/hour) Coefficient (cfs)
1 2.0 8 6.26 .9 11.3
2 3.0 10 5.84 .9 15.8
3 2.5 9 6.04 .9 13.6
4 2.5 9 6.04 .9 13.6
5 2.0 8 6.26 .9 11.3
6 2.5 9 6.04 .9 13.6
7 2.0 8 6.26 .9 11.3
The following table shows the data and results of the calculation needed to determine the
design flow rate in each segment of the hypothetical storm drain system.