Storm Drain Inlet Depth and Discharge

Adjustment for Street Cross Slope of 2 %

The FLO-2D model SWMM has been enhanced by computing the flow depth on storm drain inlet with a
curb and cross slope. For a given a flow volume on a grid element, the flow depth at the curb over a
storm drain inlet is computed assuming a 2% street cross slope. This curb flow depth is then used to
compute the discharge into the storm drain. The change to the FLO-2D model that affects the user for
this tool is a new file CURBHEIGHT.DAT with grid element and curb height. This file serves as a trigger
for the storm drain inlet in a street with curb and gutter and street cross slope. There were two
assumptions associated with this computation:
i.
ii.

Only the grid element with the storm drain has a 2% slope.
Since this is a street element, there no ARF values and the surface area is equal to side x side.

Definitions:
Grid Depth = flow depth on conventional grid element
Curb depth = depth on the storm drain
Flow depth = flow depth above the curb height
Lc = length of street away from curb that is inundated by a curb depth less than the curb height =
curb depth/0.02
Volume = total volume of water on a conventional grid element = cell surface area x Grid Depth
VOLCurb = volume equal to the curb height = 1/2 base (L) x height (0.02 x L) x side L =
0.5 x 0.02 x L3 = 0.01 L3
Calculate flow depth on the storm drain inlet:
IF Volume < VOLCurb
Volume = 0.5 x Curb depth x Lc x L = 0.5 x Curb depth x Curb depth/0.02 x L
Curb depth = (Volume/(25. x L))0.5
If VOLCurb Volume
Volume - VOLCurb = L x L x Flow depth
Flow depth = (Volume - 0.01 L3)/ L2
Curb depth = Curb height + Flow depth

The curb depth is computed in the SWMM_DISCHARGE.F90 subroutine along with the new discharge
and volume into the storm drain inlet. The volume is removed from the grid element and the model
continues to route the remaining surface flow downstream (down the street) based on existing
computation sequence. An example of this new inlet depth computation is shown below:

Side = 20 ft

0.67 ft
2.0 % Slope

Grid Element: 18911

Curb Height:
0.67 ft
Cross slope length for 2%: 0.67/0.02 = 33.5 ft use grid element side: 20 ft.
Volume of curb: 0.5 x 20 ft x 0.67 ft x 20 ft = 134 ft3
Depth on Inlet: (Water Vol./5. x side)0.5 = (26.11/(100 ft))0.5 = 0.511 ft
Inlet Discharge:
~ 12.68 cfs

The model computed inlet depth for the above example at hour 4.9 when the discharge is 12.68 cfs is:
Time (hrs)
4.9002
4.9004
4.9006
4.9009
4.9011

FP Depth
0.067
0.065
0.065
0.066
0.066

Inlet Depth
0.518
0.509
0.511
0.512
0.513

Curb Vol.
134.00
134.00
134.00
134.00
134.00

Water Vol.
26.79
25.86
26.11
26.25
26.35

The example project area is shown in Figure 1. All the storm drain inlets in this project were assigned
curb heights with associated 2% street cross slope.

Figure 1. Project area and storm drain system with rainfall simulation.
The effect of the increase depth on the storm drain inlet discharge is shown in the following seven
figures for some of the inlets in the project area. Figure 2 displays the maximum depth on the project
area. Figure 3 indicates the maximum flow depth difference between a simulation with no street cross
slope and one with street cross slope and higher inlet depths (minus). In this figure the higher inlet
depths are not shown because these are computed internal to the model. A large portion of the project
2

areas has lower depths because more upstream water enters the storm drain system. The remaining
figures display the inlet discharge for five storm drain inlets. The majority of the inlets had increased
discharge. A few inlets had return flow (flooding) to the surface with the cross slope increased inlet
depths and discharge resulting in the pipe capacity being exceeded (Figure 7). Where the downstream
surface water depths were lowered by more water entering the storm drain system, the inlet discharge
was lower (Figure 8).

Figure 2. Maximum flow depths on the project area.

Figure 3. Difference in maximum flow depths on the project area (indicates flood redistribution).
The red cells represent higher floodplain depth and the blue cells are lower cell depth.
3

Effect of 2% Cross Slope on Inlet Discharge

14

14481 - No Curb or Cross Slope

12

14481 - Curb

10
8

Inlet
Discharge 6
4
(cfs)
2
0
0

Time (hrs)
Figure 4. Effect on the 2% Cross Slope on the 14481 Inlet Discharge

Effect of 2% Cross Slope on Inlet Discharge

70
14155 - No Curb or Cross Slope
14155 - Curb

60
50

Inlet
Discharge
(cfs)

40
30
20
10
0
0

Time (hrs)
Figure 5. Effect on the 2% Cross Slope on the 14155 Inlet Discharge

Effect of 2% Cross Slope on Inlet Discharge

16
19053 - No Curb or Cross Slope
19053 - Curb

14
12

Inlet
10
Discharge
8
(cfs)
6
4
2
0
0

Time (hrs)

Figure 6. Effect on the 2% Cross Slope on the 19053 Inlet Discharge

Effect of 2% Cross Slope on Inlet Discharge

45
40
35
30
Inlet
25
Discharge
20
(cfs)
15
10
5
0

18726 - No Curb or Cross Slope

18726 - Curb
18726 - Curb Return Flooding

Time (hrs)
Figure 7. Effect on the 2% Cross Slope on the 18726 Inlet Discharge

Effect of 2% Cross Slope on Inlet Discharge

40
21361 - No Curb or Cross Slope

35

21361 - Curb

30

Inlet
25
Discharge
20
(cfs)
15
10
5
0
0

Time (hrs)
Figure 8. Effect on the 2% Cross Slope on the 21361 Inlet Discharge