Calculating runoff for stormwater control

00:04

in a typical suburban design catchment.

00:06

The goal in the design process is to

00:08

determine how much area of a catchment is impermeable

00:12

and how much runoff is caused by those impermeable areas.

00:16

First, you must calculate the pimp value,

00:19

which is the percentage of the catchment that is covered with tarmac,

00:23

concrete or other materials rain cannot penetrate

00:27

info drainage only accounts for runoff from those impermeable areas.

00:32

To start on the ribbon,

00:34

build tab data panel,

00:37

click tables

00:40

in the tables, dialogue, expand the inflows node,

00:44

then expand the time of concentration node,

00:48

enable the percentage impervious and preliminary percentage impervious boxes.

00:53

Along with the summer and winter volumetric runoff coefficients.

00:58

The two Impervious columns should all be set to 60%,

01:02

but if they aren't changed them now,

01:06

It is therefore assumed that 60% of each catchment is hard standing, impermeable,

01:11

such as roads or roof areas.

01:14

Now you can calculate how much runoff is produced by impermeable surfaces.

01:18

In your model,

01:20

note that info works. I. Cm.

01:22

Has more sophisticated methods for calculating runoff amounts

01:26

and offers a variety of models that can

01:28

incorporate variables like ground saturation and soil type

01:33

info drainage makes a simple assumption

01:36

that there is a fixed amount of runoff caused by impermeable surfaces.

01:41

This is reflected in the summer and winter volumetric runoff coefficient columns

01:47

A value of 0.750 or 75% assumes the ground is drier during the summer season.

01:56

That means during a rainfall event,

02:03

The next column assumes a value of 84% during the winter season.

02:08

Keep in mind that these values work for the purposes of this exercise,

02:13

but that in certain situations they may need to be increased or decreased.

02:18

These values are critical because they influence how

02:21

much rainfall enters a drainage system in a model

02:24

and therefore dictate design elements like pipe and storage sizes.

02:30

Close the tables dialog by pressing OK, and save any changes you made.

Video transcript

00:04

in a typical suburban design catchment.

00:06

The goal in the design process is to

00:08

determine how much area of a catchment is impermeable

00:12

and how much runoff is caused by those impermeable areas.

00:16

First, you must calculate the pimp value,

00:19

which is the percentage of the catchment that is covered with tarmac,

00:23

concrete or other materials rain cannot penetrate

00:27

info drainage only accounts for runoff from those impermeable areas.

00:32

To start on the ribbon,

00:34

build tab data panel,

00:37

click tables

00:40

in the tables, dialogue, expand the inflows node,

00:44

then expand the time of concentration node,

00:48

enable the percentage impervious and preliminary percentage impervious boxes.

00:53

Along with the summer and winter volumetric runoff coefficients.

00:58

The two Impervious columns should all be set to 60%,

01:02

but if they aren't changed them now,

01:06

It is therefore assumed that 60% of each catchment is hard standing, impermeable,

01:11

such as roads or roof areas.

01:14

Now you can calculate how much runoff is produced by impermeable surfaces.

01:18

In your model,

01:20

note that info works. I. Cm.

01:22

Has more sophisticated methods for calculating runoff amounts

01:26

and offers a variety of models that can

01:28

incorporate variables like ground saturation and soil type

01:33

info drainage makes a simple assumption

01:36

that there is a fixed amount of runoff caused by impermeable surfaces.

01:41

This is reflected in the summer and winter volumetric runoff coefficient columns

01:47

A value of 0.750 or 75% assumes the ground is drier during the summer season.

01:56

That means during a rainfall event,

02:03

The next column assumes a value of 84% during the winter season.

02:08

Keep in mind that these values work for the purposes of this exercise,

02:13

but that in certain situations they may need to be increased or decreased.

02:18

These values are critical because they influence how

02:21

much rainfall enters a drainage system in a model

02:24

and therefore dictate design elements like pipe and storage sizes.

02:30

Close the tables dialog by pressing OK, and save any changes you made.

Video quiz

When calculating how much runoff is produced by impermeable surfaces in your model, what fixed runoff value does InfoDrainage use to represent the Summer Volumetric Runoff Coefficient?

(Select one)
Select an answer

1/1 questions left unanswered

Step-by-step:

The goal in the catchment design process is to determine how much surface area of a catchment is impermeable, and how much runoff is caused by those impermeable areas. To do so, you must calculate the percentage impervious value, or “PIMP value,” which is the percentage of the catchment that is covered with tarmac, concrete, or other materials that rain cannot penetrate. InfoDrainage only accounts for runoff from those impermeable areas.

  1. On the ribbon, Build tab, Data panel, click Tables.
  2. In the Tables dialog box, Inflows tab, expand the Inflows node.
  3. Expand the Catchment Area node.
  4. Expand the Time of Concentration node.
    The Tables dialog box, with the Inflows tab active and the Inflows, Catchment Area, and Time of Concentration nodes expanded.
  5. Click the checkboxes to enable these options:
    • Preliminary Percentage Impervious
    • Summer Volumetric Runoff Coefficient
    • Winter Volumetric Runoff Coefficient
    • Percentage Impervious
      A closeup of the Inflows hierarchy in the Tables dialog box, with the four options enabled: Preliminary Percentage Impervious, Summer Volumetric Runoff Coefficient, Winter Volumetric Runoff Coefficient, and Percentage Impervious
  1. Review the values in the columns of the table for accuracy.
    The Tables dialog box, with the Preliminary Percentage Impervious, Summer Volumetric Runoff Coefficient, Winter Volumetric Runoff Coefficient, and Percentage Impervious values showing.
  2. The two Percentage Impervious columns should both be set to 60 percent, but if they are not, change them.

InfoDrainage assumes:

  • 60% of each catchment is hard standing impermeable surface, such as roads or roofed areas.
  • A fixed amount of runoff is caused by impermeable surfaces for the Summer and Winter Volumetric Runoff Coefficients.
  • The ground is drier during the summer; therefore, during a rainfall event, 75% of the runoff will make it into the manhole in that subcatchment.
  • The ground is wetter during the winter; therefore, during a rainfall event, 84% of the runoff will make it into the manhole in that subcatchment.

Keep in mind that these values work for this exercise, but they may need to be increased or decreased for other situations. These values are critical because they influence how much rainfall enters a drainage system in a model, and therefore dictate design elements like pipe and storage sizes.

  1. When finished, Close the Tables dialog box.
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