STORMWATER DRAINAGE STRUCTURES

drainage of street pavements

gutter flow: swale sections

V-shaped (as shown below) and circular swale sections are used to convey runoff
from pavements that do not have curbs
The flow through such a V-section can be computed with [1] and [2] accompanied
by [18] and [19]
Qp = knT8/3Sx5/3SL1/2/2.64n

- [8]

T = (2.64Qn/knSx5/3SL1/2)3/8

- [9]

Sx = Sx1Sx2 / Sx1 + Sx2

- [18]

y/D = ke (Qn / D2.67SL0.5)0.488

- [19]

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STORMWATER DRAINAGE STRUCTURES

drainage of street pavements

gutter flow: swale sections

y/D = ke (Qn / D2.67SL0.5)0.488

- [19]

here in [19]
y = flow depth
D = diameter of circular gutter (m or ft)
SL = longitudinal slope
ke = 1.179 metric units, and 0.972 US

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STORMWATER DRAINAGE STRUCTURES

drainage of street pavements

gutter flow: swale sections

further, we can express the top width, T, of the flow section as

T = 2 [D2/4 (D/2-y)2] 0.5

- [20]

D = diameter of circular gutter (m or ft)

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STORMWATER DRAINAGE STRUCTURES

drainage of street pavements

pavement drainage inlets

pavement stormwater runoff is collected via inlets, then is discharged to

underground conveyance systems
there are 4 major types of pavement drainage inlet: grate, combination, curb
opening, and slotted drain inlet (shown below)

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STORMWATER DRAINAGE STRUCTURES

drainage of street pavements

pavement drainage inlets

the efficiency of an inlet is defined as

E =Qi/Q

- [21]

here in [21]
E = efficiency
Q = total gutter flow rate
Qi = intercepted flow rate

that which is not intercepted is called carryover or bypass

Qb = Q-Qi

- [22]

Qb = carryover (bypass) flow rate

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STORMWATER DRAINAGE STRUCTURES

drainage of street pavements

pavement drainage inlets: grate inlets

in areas where clogging with debris is not an issue, grate inlets are most
effective
the efficiency depends on the inlet and gutter characteristics and the flow in
the gutter
to determine the efficiency of a grate inlet, the total gutter flow is split in 2
parts: frontal and side flow
here, frontal is portion of the total flow within the width of the inlet, we express it
as
Qw = Q[1 (1 W/T)2.67]

- [23]

Qw = frontal discharge
W = width of depressed gutter or inlet
T = total spread of water in the gutter

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STORMWATER DRAINAGE STRUCTURES

drainage of street pavements

pavement drainage inlets: grate inlets

now we compute Qs as
Qs = Q - Q w

- [24]

Qs = side discharge corresponding to the flow outside the width of the inlet (T-W)
the ratio Rf of frontal intercepted flow to frontal flow is expressed as
Rf = Qwi / Qw = 1.0 Kf(V-V0) for V>V0

- [25]

and
Rf = 1.0 for V<=V0

- [26]

Kf = conversion (0.295 s/m in metric units, and 0.09 s/ft in US)

Qwi = frontal flow intercepted
V = velocity of flow in the gutter
V0 = splashover velocity

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STORMWATER DRAINAGE STRUCTURES

drainage of street pavements

pavement drainage inlets: grate inlets

the term splash over velocity refers to the minimum velocity that will cause
some water to shoot over the inlet

this velocity depends on the gutter length and type

the figure below illustrates the splash over velocities for several standard grates
tested by the FHA

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STORMWATER DRAINAGE STRUCTURES

drainage of street pavements

pavement drainage inlets: grate inlets

06-87-471 Hydrology

STORMWATER DRAINAGE STRUCTURES

drainage of street pavements

pavement drainage inlets: grate inlets

now the ratio of intercepted side flow to total side flow is expressed as
Rs = Qsi / Qs = 1/ [ 1+ (KsV1.8) / SxL2.3) ]

- [27]

Qsi = side flow intercepted

Ks = conversion factor (0.0828 m0.5/s1.8 for SI and 0.15ft0.5/s1.8 for US)
L = length of grate
and the efficiency of the grate inlet is evaluated via
E = Rf (Qw/Q) + Rs (Qs/Q)

- [28]

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STORMWATER DRAINAGE STRUCTURES

drainage of street pavements

pavement drainage inlets: curb opening inlets

curb inlets are somewhat more advantageous than grate inlets in that they are
less susceptible to clogging and do not interfere with traffic operations
however, flow depth at the curb must be substantial to promote inlet efficiency
the efficiency can be computed as
E = 1 (1 L/LT)1.8 (for L<LT)
E = 1 (for L>=LT)

- [29]

- [30]

L = curb opening length

LT = curb opening length required to capture 100% of gutter flow, where
LT = KcQ0.42SL0.3(1/nSx)0.6

- [31]

and
Kc = 0.817 s0.42/m0.26 (SI) = 0.6 s0.42/ft0.26

- [32]
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STORMWATER DRAINAGE STRUCTURES

drainage of street pavements

pavement drainage inlets: curb opening inlets

for a curb depressed opening as shown below

LT = KcQ0.42SL0.3(1/nSe)0.6

- [33]

and then we have Se equal to

Se = Sx + (a/W)E0

- [34]

here a = gutter depression as shown in the above figure, and we note that the
ratio of flow in the depressed section to total gutter flow E0 can be computed as
was done for composite gutters

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ASSIGNMENT 4
ASSIGNED PROBLEMS
PAVEMENT DRAINAGE STRUCTURES (Chapter 6)
1, 2, 3, 5-14

SOURCE
Urban Hydrology, Hydraulics, and Stormwater Quality by Akan and Houghtalen 2003

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