Surface Drainage/Rational Method

Transverse slope

Longitudinal slope

Longitudinal channel

Surface Drainage System Design

Tradeoffs: Steep slopes provide good hydraulic capacity and lower ROW costs, but reduce safety and increase maintenance costs and erosion Three phases
1.

2. 3.

Estimate of the quantity of water to reach the system Hydraulic design of system elements Comparison of different materials that serve same purpose
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Hydrologic Analysis: Rational

Method
Useful for small, usually urban, watersheds (<10acres, but DOT says <200acres)

Q = CIA (english) or Q = 0.0028CIA (metric)

Q = runoff (ft3/sec) or (m3/sec) C = coefficient representing ratio of runoff to rainfall I = intensity of rainfall (in/hour or mm/hour) A = drainage area (acres or hectares)
Iowa DOT Design Manual, Chapter 4, The Rational Method

Runoff Coefficient

Coefficient that represents the fraction of runoff to rainfall Depends on type of surface

7 Iowa DOT Design Manual, Chapter 4, The Rational Method

Runoff Coefficient

8 Iowa DOT Design Manual, Chapter 4, The Rational Meth

Runoff Coefficient

Iowa DOT Design Manual, Chapter 4, The Rational Method

Runoff Coefficient

When a drainage area has distinct parts with different coefficients Use weighted average
C = C1A1 + C2A2 + .. + CnAn Ai

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Intensity

Average intensity for a selected frequency and duration Based on design event (i.e. 50-year storm)

Overdesign is costly (what else?) Underdesign may be inadequate

Duration
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Intensity

Based on values of Tc and T

Tc = time of concentration T = recurrence interval or design frequency

As a minimum equal to the time of concentration, tc, (in/hr)

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Recurrence Interval (Design Event)

2-year interval -- Design of intakes and spread of water on pavement for primary highways and city streets 10-year interval -- Design of intakes and spread of water on pavement for freeways and interstate highways 50 - year -- Design of subways (underpasses) and sag vertical curves where storm sewer pipe is the only outlet 100 year interval -- Major storm check on all projects
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Time of Concentration (tc)

Time for water to flow from hydraulically most distant point on the watershed to the point of interest Assumes peak runoff occurs when I lasts as long or longer than Tc

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Time of Concentration (tc)

Depends on:

Size and shape of drainage area Type of surface Slope of drainage area Rainfall intensity Whether flow is entirely overland or whether some is channelized
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Time of Concentration (tc)

Ti = L 3600 V

where Ti = travel time for section i in watershed (hr) L = flow length (ft) V = average velocity (ft/sec)
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Tc: Equation from Iowa DOT Manual

(See nomograph)
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Nomograph Method

Trial and error Estimate I Determine Tc Check I and Tc against values in Table 5 (Iowa DOT, Chapter 4) Repeat until I ~ Tc
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Example (Iowa DOT Method)

Iterative finding I and Tc L = 150 feet Average slope, S = 0.02 Grass Recurrence interval, T = 10 years Location: Keokuk Find I
From Iowa DOT Design Manual
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Grass Surface, mannings roughness coefficient = 0.4

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Try I = 5 in/hr
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Tc = 18 min

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Example (continued)

Tc with first iteration is 18 min Check against tables in DOT manual

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Keokuk is in SE, code = 9

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Convert intensity to inches/hour

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From previous chart: 6.32 inches occurs over 5 days (120 hours) =

6.32 in/120 hours = 0.05 in/hr

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From previous chart: 4.06 inches occurs over 18 hours =

4.06 in/18 hours = 0.34 in/hr

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From previous chart: 1.26 inches occurs over 15 min = 1.26 in/0.25 hours = 5.0 in/hr

For intensity of 5 inch/hr, Duration is 15 min Tc from nomograph was 18 min

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Example (continued)
I < Tc Next iteration, try intensity = 4.0 inch/hr

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Slope = 0.02

I = 4.25 inches/hr Tc = 20 min For second iteration, tc = 20 min, OK!

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Example (continued)
I < Tc Next iteration, try intensity = 4.25 inch/hr
I = 4.25 inches/hour is somewhere between 30 min and 15 min
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Example (continued)

I = 4 inches/hour is somewhere between 30 min and 15 min

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Example (continued)
Interpolate I at 20 min = 4.3 inches/hour
Close so I = 4.25 inches/hour

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Area

Area of watershed Defined by topography Use ArcView contours in lab

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Flow

Q = CIA
Calculate once C, I, and A have been found

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