Logo image
Back
Modeling stormwater rain garden performance
Thesis   Open access

Modeling stormwater rain garden performance

Nicholas A. Manna
Master of Science (M.S.), Drexel University
Jun 2017
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17918/etd-7355
pdf
Manna_Nicholas_20172.06 MBDownloadView
PDF Open Access Open Access (License Unspecified)

Abstract

Stormwater infiltration--Environmental aspects Rain gardens Civil Engineering
Green City, Clean Waters is a program run by Philadelphia Water (PWD) with the goal of reducing the impact of combined sewer overflows (CSOs). CSOs are caused by stormwater runoff due to impervious surfaces. Green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) captures this stormwater before it reaches the combined sewers. The Monitoring, Analysis, and Research Support (MARS) group at PWD evaluates the performance of existing stormwater management practices. An accurate model of individual stormwater management practices can help to predict future performance and evaluate conclusions reached about existing performance. This thesis, completed by collaborators at Drexel University and PWD, develops and calibrates a rain garden model in R. The model processes influent volume, based on precipitation and drainage area. Volume of water infiltrated and ponded water level are calculated with time, and compared to observed water level. The Green-Ampt equation was selected as the governing method to model infiltration, which considers depth of water, soil porosity, suction head, and saturated hydraulic conductivity. The focus of the model is a rain garden at the Philadelphia Zoo. A simulated runoff test was performed in November 2016 that provided inflow and ponding data, as well as water level in an adjacent trench, that was used to calibrate the model. Following that, a significant storm was also modeled.

Metrics

60 File views/ downloads
56 Record Views

Details

Logo image