Department of Environmental Engineering

Sewerage and Drainage Engineering

Chapter Four
Drainage (storm) system design and construction

Part I

Storm water flow and design

Bimrew B. (M.Sc.)

1
 1. Introduction
Stormwater Management

Why:

• Surface runoff has to be reduced to prevent flooding

• Especially in urbanised areas where natural infiltration is reduced

• Sediments and Pollutants (e.g. nutrients from agriculture) must be removed

How:

• Temporary storage (e.g. retention ponds, rainwater harvesting)

• Infiltration (e.g. grass filter stripes, infiltration basin)

 Rural Stormwater Management
Causes: heavy rainfalls, storms, roads, buildings, overstrained sewer
systems
Impacts: flooding and stream erosion
Benefit of flood events and precipitation: use this water for irrigation
Some available techniques:
➢ Spate irrigation
➢ Micro basins
➢ Sand Dams
➢ Field trenches
➢ Rainwater harvesting

Flooded agricultural land after a storm event. Source: ARC (2010)

Rural Stormwater Harvesting

Rooftop harvesting and storage for

Spate irrigation system Yemen. Source: FAO (2012) further use. Source: DOLMAN & LUNDQUIST (2008)

Sand accumulates until the dam is completely full of

sand up to the spillway. Water is stored within
the sand, protected and filtered, making up to
40 % of the total volume. Source: ED (n.y.)
Urban Stormwater Management
Human settlements disturb the natural water cycle and creates
floods and water pollution:
➢ Natural vegetation is often removed and rivers are canalised
➢Surfaces are impermeable
➢Groundwater resources decrease, fresh water becomes scarce

Let’s upgrade the urban water cycle! Source: AUCKLAND CITY COUNCIL (2010)
The practice of managing freshwater, wastewater, and stormwater as links within the
resource management structure, using an urban area as the unit of management.

Including:

• Consumption efficiency

• Ensure water quality

• Alternative sources (e.g. rainwater)

• Engage communities

• Establish and implement policies and strategies

• Support capacity development of personnel and institutions

• Improve economic efficiency of services

How can we optimize Storm water

• StormwaterManagement helps to collect, treat and (re-)use runoff water; to avoid

contamination and destruction; and to restore the disturbed urban water cycle!
 2.Design Principles
There are several techniques to manage surface
runoff.

They are divided in two groups:

➢ Storage Type Devices

➢ Infiltration Type Devices

What technique is implemented should be decided The sewer system cannot handle the volume of runoff. Source: USGS
(2009)

on local conditions and responsible planers.

Detention Ponds
• Excavated reservoirs or natural depressions.
• Dry during low flow periods -> temporary storage during flood
events
• Stormwater should stored long enough to settle solids

Extended Detention Basin Components. Source: NJDEP (2004)

Retention Ponds
• Primarily designed to improve stormwater quality.
• Secondary for flood control devices.
• Retention Ponds do not dry out, water stays between 2 and 4
weeks.
• Water quality improvement mainly through settling.

A retention pond with additional aeration, which improves aquatic life and pollutant removal. Source: KASCO MARINE
(n.y.)
 Onsite Detention (OSD)
• Collecting stormwater on-site (e.g. on a private property).

• Storing it for a certain time and release it slowly or (re-)use it.

• Used in urban and residential areas.

A possible OSD design with modular tank boxes. Source: ATLANTIS (n.y.)
Rainwater Harvesting

• Can be used in urban and rural areas.

• Reducing of stormwater runoff and storage of potable water
• Water can be used for irrigation, as flush water for toilets or,
after purification, as drinking water.

Rooftop rainwater harvesting in Urban Areas using a Plastic Tank. Source: VISHWANATH
(n.y.)
storm water flow
• Storm sewer is designed to drain excess rainfall and groundwater from paved streets,
parking lots, sidewalks, and roofs.

• Storm sewers vary in design from small residential dry wells to large municipal systems.

• Storm sewers are present on most motorways, freeways and other busy roads, as well as
towns in areas which experience heavy rainfall flooding areas which experience heavy
rainfall, flooding and coastal towns which experience regular storms.
storm water flow
• Ideally, storm sewers should be separate from sanitary sewers, though in some
places the runoff from storm sewers is subjected to sewage treatment plant when
there is sufficient capacity to spare.

• Most drains have a single large exit at their point of discharge (often covered by a
grating to prevent access by humans and exit by debris) into either a canal, river,
lake, reservoir, ocean and spread out into smaller branches as they move up into
their catchment area.
 storm water flow
• Storm sewers may discharge into
-individual dry wells.
-man-made excavations (recharge basins).
• Pipes characteristics
-can come in many different shapes.
-have many different features.
-several different materials can also be used.
 Peak Flow Analysis
• Estimation of peak flow rates from small and mid - size watersheds is a common
application of engineering hydrology.

• Procedures should be follow when storage and runoff volume considerations

influence the design (reservoirs or storm water detention ponds)

• Simpler approaches are justified when designing small hydraulic structures such as
culverts or storm drainage systems drainage systems.

• For these design problems, peak flows usually provide information to determine the
appropriate pipe size.
 Peak Flow Analysis
• For the above formulas there is no attempt to consider rainfall amounts or intensities as
parameter, or to relate the value of q to any probability or return period.

• They simply provide an upper limit of Q that would represent an extremely conservative
design flow value.

• Most designs are based on a return period (highway culverts: 50 year return period)

• A frequency analysis using peak flows from gaged stream flow would provide desired peak
flow

• Drawbacks: gaged data may not exist, watershed may have changed land use, gaged data
may not be at the location of design.
 Quantity estimation of storm water
The surface run-off resulting after precipitation contributes to the storm water. The quantity of storm water

reaching to the sewers or drains is very large as compared with sanitary sewage.

The factors affecting the quantity of storm water flow are as below:

- Antecedent catchment condition

- Area of the catchment
- Intensity and duration of rainfall
- Slope and shape of the catchment area
- Atmospheric temperature and humidity
- Porosity of the soil after
- Number and size od diches present in
- Obstruction in the flow of the water as trees
the area
• Rainfall is measured using rain gauges
• Rainfall intensity is expressed in mm/hr

Figure: Runoff from a given catchment

 Important Concepts
Time of concentration

✓ Is the period at which the entire catchment area will start contributing to the runoff.

✓ The runoff from a given catchment would be maximum if the rainfall duration
equals the time of concentration and is called critical rainfall duration.

Time of concentration = Inlet time + time of travel

Inlet time (Ti) : time required for rain falling on the most remote point to reach inlet
of sewer.

Travel time (Tt): is length of drain divided by velocity of drain

 Design of Storm Sewer
- In addition to natural floods occurring over some return period, urbanization causes
✓Distorted natural storm drainage /paths lead to runoff flowing and accumulating all
over the place along available slope towards receiving water bodies/flood problem
✓ Large portion of impervious area leading to storm runoff running faster/flood
problem
✓As a result;
damage of property due to flooding
Inconvenience of urban
transportation/ passage for road
traffic
✓Therefore Engineering solution is req.
to eliminate the problem
/Properly designed sewerage system/
Design of Storm Sewer
✓Design steps
▪ Sketch layout of the sewer lines (along street sides
following natural slopes)
▪ Estimation of discharge/storm runoff from the area
Hydraulic design of the sewer
 Design of Storm Sewer
Storm runoff estimation - Urban Hydrology
✓ Peak discharge: (peak flow) is the maximum rate of flow of water passing a given point during or
after a rainfall event.
✓ Quantity of storm water depends on the following factors
Intensity of rainfall
Nature of the surface over which rainfall takes place or nature of the catchment
Area /extent of the catchment
✓Runoff analysis methods
Rational Method - only for drainage areas less than 50 hectares (0.5 km2);
SCS and other Unit Hydrograph Methods - for drainage areas greater than 50hectares;
Suitable Computer Programs - HYDRAIN's HYDRO, HEC 1, and TR-20 are used to facilitate
tedious hydrologic calculations.
Design of Storm Sewer
RATIONAL METHOD

Assumptions;
Constant and uniform rainfall
Peak flow occurs when the entire watershed is contributing

Q = CiA/360
Where;
Q = runoff, m3/sec
C = runoff coefficient
i = design rainfall intensity, mm/hr
A = area, ha
Design of Storm Sewer
RUNOFF COEFFICIENT
If an area that drains to a manhole consists of n land uses, the combined C value needs
to be calculated by
n
 CiAi
C = i =1n
 Ai
i =1
Design of Storm Sewer
INTENSITY
Design rainfall intensity is selected based on
→Selected return period, & IDF curve /curve eqn.
→Selected Duration of rainfall = time of concentration

Rainfall return periods*

(Ref. AACRA manual)

The time of concentration refers to the time at which the whole area just contributes runoff to a
point of concern.

tc = te + tf Where,
tc = time of concentration
te = time of entry to the inlet (usually taken as 5 – 10 min)
tf = time of flow in the sewer
Design of Storm Sewer
Time of concentration

most widely used method 0.00032L0.77

L, meters
te = Te, in hr
S 0.385

Flow time in sewer, tf

Design of Storm Sewer
C1 C2 Concept of entry time and
A1 A2
Channel flow time
1
2 A4
C3

A3 C4

3
4

Line 2-3
5
Area, A = A1 + A2 Line 3-5
C = (C1A1 + C2A2)/(A1 + A2) Area, A = A1 + A2 + A3 + A4
tc2 = greater of (te1 + tf1-2 or te2) C = (C1A1+C2A2+C3A3+C4A4)/(A1+A2+ A3+A4)
i = intensity corresponding to tc2 tc3 = greater of (te1+tf1-3, te2+tf2-3, te3 or te4+tf4-3)
i = intensity corresponding to tc3
Design of Storm Sewer
The rainfall intensity can be read from the IDF curve or calculated by using a relevant
formula.
Runoff Coefficient :
Represent the fraction which is multiplied by the quantity of total rainfall to
determine the quantity of rain water reaching the sewer drains. It depends on:
Table 1:Typical runoff coefficient in different roughness
• porosity
• Wetness
• Type of ground cover
Methods of estimation of quantity of storm water

1) Rational method: the widely used equation

2) Empirical method : ( will not be discussed)
Both methods consider the quantity of storm water as a function of
rainfall intensity, coefficient of runoff and catchment area.
Rational method
Rational Method
Rainfall Intensity
The relationship between rainfall intensity and duration are developed
based on long term experience in the field and the resulting curve.

I: Intensity of rainfall (mm/h

t : Duration of storm (minutes)

a, b and n : Constants

Figure: Relationship of rainfall duration and intensity

 IDF Curve
IDF Curves are curves that have been put together for a specific region using multiple
years (decades) of recorded storm data. Here is an example.

✓ To get intensity, you need to know the storm frequency as

well as the storm duration.
✓ If the storm frequency is not one of the common ones (5, 10,
15, 20, 50 etc.) you may have to interpolate on the graph
and give your best estimate.

✓ The duration also may need to be interpolated.

1. Find your region
2. Find your return period (storm frequency)
3. Get c and b values
4. Success
Example 1
Example 2
=0.44
Example 3
A storm sewer is proposed to drain a 12 hectares drainage area shown in the figure
below. With given data in the table below, determine the design discharge as a result of
5-year peak rainfall

Site Area C Inlet time, te

(ha) (min)
A 4 0.8 10
B 8 0.5 30

2700
i= intensity for 5-year Return P.
(tc + 15)
Where; I in mm/hr & tc in min
3
Tf = 10min
Example 3 - Solution
Upstream Area (Inlet 1) for pipe 1-2:
A = 4 ha
C = 0.8
tc = 10 min
i = 2700/(10+15)
= 108 mm/hr
Qp = CiA/360 = (0.8)(108)(4)/360
= 0.96 m3/sec
Downstream Area (Inlet 2) for pipe 2-3:
A = 4 + 8 = 12 ha
C = (0.8 x 4 + 0.5 x 8)/ 12 = 0.6
tc = max of (Time from A – 1 – 2; 10 + 10 = 20 min OR Time from B – 2; 30 min)
tc = 30 min (max)
i = 2700/(30+15)
= 60 mm/hr
Qp = CiA/360 = (0.6)(60)(12)/360
= 1.2 m3/sec
Example 4
Design pipes 11-21, pipe21-31, and pipe 31-41 for the given simple drainage basin below
The catchment properties are given in table
The design rainfall intensity is computed from the intensity duration–frequency relation for this
location (10yr return period):
 te tf tc

For: n=0.015 Note: 4m cover is assumed at u/s points 11 &

12 i.e., 35-4=31 & 41.5-4=37.5
Com.
Q = CAi Manning avail. V=Q/
A Fall of
sewer
LxS
 Example 4
u/s crown of pipe
extending from MH
Assuming 4m 21 to 31
soil cover d/s crown of pipe extending
from MH 21 to 31 & u/s for
pipe extending from 31 to 41
u/s
Opt 2

u/s point crown & invert

of pipe 12-21

d/s point Crown & invert

of pipe 11-21
d/s
u/s point Crown & invert Opt 2
of pipe 31-41
 Example 5
From a topographic map and field survey, area of the drainage basin upstream from the point in question
is found to be 36 hectares.

Determine the maximum rate of runoff for a 10-year period. The following data were measured:
✓ Length of overland flow = 45 m
✓ Average overland slope = 2.0%
✓ Length of main basin channel = 700 m
✓ Slope of channel = 0.018 m/m = 1.8 %
✓ Manning’s Roughness coefficient (η) of channel is, η = 0.090
✓ Hydraulic radius = A/P, can be approximated by = 0.6m
✓ Land Use and Soil Data
Residential (multi-units, attached) 40%
Undeveloped 60%, (2.0% slope),with lawns, heavy soil cover 100%

375
i= intensity for 10-year Return P.
(tc + 5)^0.71
Where; I in mm/hr & tc in min
Solution
Run off for 10yrs return period, Q10 = CI10A /360
Runoff Coefficient
A weighted runoff coefficient (C) for the total catchment area is determined in the following table by
using the values from Tables 5-3 & 5-4

The runoff coefficient (C) for the overland flow area from Table 5-3 is 0.12-0.17, use 0.14.

Weighed
Land use Area Coefficient coefficient
Residential (multi-units,
attached) 40%x36 0.68 9.79

Rainfall Intensity Undeveloped 60%x36 0.14 3.02

I10 = 375/(tc+5)0.71 …………….. ERA IDF curve 12.82/36=0.35
Total Weighted Runoff Coefficient 6
Solution
Solution
 Solution…
Time of Concentration, tc = te + tf
From Kirpich’s formula with an overland flow length of 45 m, slope of 2.0 % and C of 0.14, the inlet
time can be calculated as:

=
0.77 0.00032 * 45 0.77
0.00032L
te = 0.02 0.385
S 0.385 te = 0.027 hr = 1.6 min
tf , Flow time in channel = L/V ………..Where channel flow velocity is determined from
Manning’s formula:
… ………….Using η = 0.090, R = 0.6 m and S = 0.018m/m,

R 2 / 3S1 / 2
V =
n = 1.1 m/s.
Therefore, =0.62 / 30.0181 / 2
V =
L 0.09
t f = = 10.61 min
V
700m
tf =
(1.1m / s )(60s / min)
And tc = te + tf = 1.6 + 10.61 = 12.21 min
Solution …
Rainfall Intensity
From the equation given with a duration equal to 12.21 minutes,
I10 = 375/(tc+5)0.71 …………….. ERA IDF curve
I10 = 375/(12.21+5)0.71 = 49.7 mm/hr

Peak Runoff
From the rational equation:
Q10 = C I10A / 360 = 0.356 x 49.7 mm/h x 35 ha/360 = 1.72 m3/s
Software packages
Sewer CAD
SWMM (storm water management model)
Bentley storm CAD

Ref:
Internal drainage system for buildings EBCS 9-Sec 5
External drainage system for buildings EBCS 9-Sec 6
Storm water drainage EBCS 9-Sec 7
Thank You
End of part I