Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx

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Materials Today: Proceedings

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Investigating the hydrological performance of green roofs using storm

water management model
Deepak N. Paithankar, Satish G. Taji ⇑
Civil Engineering Department, SRES’s Sanjivani College of Engineering, Kopargaon, Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune, Maharashtra, India

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The green roof, also known as vegetated roof covers, or eco-roofs or natural roofs, is one of the recently
Received 21 December 2019 developed low impact development (LID) techniques, which significantly increases water retention and
Received in revised form 1 May 2020 thus helps to mitigate the urban flooding. In the present study, the installation of green roofs is assumed
Accepted 4 May 2020
as a hypothetic retrofitting scenario according to a sustainable storm water mitigation strategy for a
Available online xxxx
selected urban catchment and performance has been evaluated using Storm Water Management
Model (SWMM). The model has been calibrated for the measured flow data of eight events using
Keywords:
Nash-Sutcliffe Efficiency (NSE) Coefficient. The lowest and highest value of NSE was found 0.67 and
Low impact development
Green roofs
0.93 respectively. The hydrologic performance of the green roof was conducted under event-based as well
Urban flooding as continuous simulation. Based on simulation results, peak flow has been reduced from 7.13 ltr/sec to
SWMM 6.36 ltr/sec for Green Roof – 1 (GR-1) and 1.45 ltr/sec to 1.30 ltr/sec for Green Roof – 2 (GR-2). The sim-
Urban hydrology ulation results point out that the integration of green roof LID contributes to the reduction of the quantity
of storm water runoff by increasing the retention period. However, the hydrological behavior of a green
roof is site-specific, and therefore the site-specific conditions and parameters like characteristics of the
vegetation, physical properties of its layers, etc. have to be considered in the evaluation of its perfor-
mance. Further, the research at the micro-level is necessary to evaluate the role of the green roof slope,
the effect of vegetation cover, and the antecedent period on the performance of the green roofs for more
reliable results.
Ó 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 3rd International
Conference on Innovative Technologies for Clean and Sustainable Development.

1. Introduction on the urban catchment through increased inflow on the treatment

The rapid rate of increasing urbanization has created great
impacts on urban hydrology. Urbanization tends to change in sur-
face hydrology in urban catchments which leads to the generation
of peak flows in an exceptionally short time. Urbanization creates
developed catchment which differentiates the urban flooding from
rural flooding, whereas in natural areas, most of the rainfall infil-
trates into the ground and recharge the ground water, and some
amount is absorbed or transpired by the plants which ultimately
reduces surface runoff from the catchment [1]. The traditional
solution uses the conveyance system to collect and dispose of the
generated runoff from the catchment which is almost proven to
be outdated [2]. This traditional solution creates an adverse impact
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: satishtaji777@gmail.com (S.G. Taji).
plant as well as stream flow on the downstream. Low impact
development (LID) and best management practices (BMPs) are,
nowadays, become common to practice across the world and most
of the countries have implemented these practices (LID & BMPs)
improving sustainable development [3]. Those terms (BMPs and
LIDs) are similar to water sensitive urban design (WSUD) terms
used in Australia, sustainable urban drainage system (SUDS) term
used in the United Kingdom, onsite storm water management in
Washington State Department [4] and green infrastructure term
used by Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). It accelerates
infiltration, improves storage and evaporation, which reduces
flooding in the system, and allows detaining the runoff water near
to its source of generation and ultimately reduces the peak flows
[3]. There are various types of LIDs (e.g. pervious pavement, rain
water harvesting, bio-retention cell, detention ponds, green roofs,
rain garden, infiltration trenches, etc.) that are practiced and used

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2020.05.085
2214-7853/Ó 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 3rd International Conference on Innovative Technologies for Clean and Sustainable
Development.

Please cite this article as: D. N. Paithankar and S. G. Taji, Investigating the hydrological performance of green roofs using storm water management model,
Materials Today: Proceedings, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2020.05.085
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in different countries according to their suitability on-site condi- reduces the energy requirement of the building as well as reduces
tions [5]. the urban heat island effect [14,17].
The performance of LID and BMPs techniques has been studied
by many authors on the urban catchment scale as well as on labo-
2. Methodology
ratory scale. The data presented in the literature shows that the
effectiveness of LID increases as its surface area increases [6,7]
2.1. Study area description
which may not available. Therefore, the main drawback of the
BMPs and LIDs is their surface area requirement in highly urban-
The present study has been carried out at the campus of Sanji-
ized areas which makes it limited when it comes to the implemen-
vani Rural Education Society’s Sanjivani College of Engineering,
tation phase [8]. Taji and Regulwar [1] carried out the design of the
Kopargaon (Maharashtra State, India). For the implementation pur-
drainage model which was coupled with two LIDs (viz. pervious
pose, two building blocks (Academic building and corporate office)
pavement and rain water harvesting) and highlighted the difficul-
have been selected to simulate the hypothetical green roof sce-
ties of the implementation such LIDs in the existing urban area due
nario (as shown in Fig. 1). The academic building is an old building
to space requirement. Another study also reveals that the perfor-
structure whereas the corporate office is newly constructed and
mance of infiltration type LIDs is directly dependent upon the per-
both of the buildings have no provision for storm water runoff
cent of the area occupied [3] which is exceptionally available in the
management and therefore, all the generated storm water dis-
dense urban areas. In such a complex urban environment, green
posed of to the outlet. This is resulting in small flooding at the out-
roof LID can be more effective, which uses a roof surface rather
let point of the campus during heavy rains. To minimize this
than using the ground area [8]. Hence, the present study aims to
flooding, it is necessary to adopt any storm water management
investigate the hydrological performance of the green roof for
strategy which will reduce the flooding through the reduction of
which we have finalized three objectives: (i) to propose a new
storm water quantity. In the present study, we have selected a
model of green roof structure; (ii) to investigate the hydrological
green roof LID which has been simulated using SWMM. Although
performance of the green roof; and (iii) to evaluate the use of
the study merely focuses on the evaluation of the hydrologic per-
SWMM LID module for investigation of the green roof. The present
formance of the green roof, many recent studies have highlighted
paper describes the hydrological performance of the green roof to
thermal effect reduction due to the implementation of the green
reduce the runoff volume and delay the peak flows in urban areas.
roof which reduces the energy requirement of the building
The green roof is another different form of bio-retention cell
[14,18]. Hence, adopting such green infrastructure technology in
that is having a soil layer at the top with special drainage for drain-
new as well as existing buildings would be helpful not only to
ing the excess water [3]. It is also known as vegetated roof covers,
reduce total runoff volume but also to minimize urban heat island
or living roofs, in the form of complex vertical layered structure [2].
effect [17].
The bio-retention cells also termed as rain gardens or bio-
Both of the roofs have considered with extensive green roofs
infiltration, are generally require space on the ground, whereas
having a 150 mm depth of surface layer for root growth (shown
green roofs utilize rooftop space [9]. Therefore, the green roofs
in Fig. 1 as GR1 and GR2). An extensive green roof is most suitable
can be installed at the time of the initial phase of construction of
for implementation at the individual level or small scale which
building or may be provided at the time of retrofitting of the exist-
provides the best cost-benefit ratio with the least maintenance as
ing one [3]. The quantity of storm water that is treated by the green
compared to the intensive green roof [14]. The area of green roof is
roof is directly proportional to the total area of it. Many researchers
the pervious area and when it applied, the total impervious area of
have carried out an extensive study on the green roof and proven
the catchment, as well as total runoff volume generated, would get
that green roofs can be an effective solution for decreasing runoff
reduced. However, the green roof should not be applied to fulfill
quantity as well as retaining and delaying the peak flow [8,10–
both the objectives simultaneously and only designed either for
13]. Common classifications of green roofs are divided into two
total impervious area reduction or total runoff volume reduction
categories as extensive and intensive which depend on the depth
[14]. As the main objective of the study is to evaluate the hydro-
of the vegetation roots on the surface layer [11]. If it is less than
logic performance of the green roof for runoff volume reduction,
150 mm then it classified as extensive in which vegetation consists
the area of the hypothetical green roof has been calculated from
of roots up to shallow depth. If it is more than 150 mm, where dee-
roof area by deducting the walkways area which is assumed on
per rooting plants are generally used (viz. shrubs and trees), it is
all the sides and at the center of the roof for monitoring and main-
known to be intensive green roofs. However, extensive green roofs
tenance purpose. Therefore, the total available area for the green
are convenient to implement, cheaper, and need less maintenance
roof after the deduction of the walkway is 3691 m2 and
[8,10]. Therefore, extensive green roofs have wider applicability
756 m2for green roof 1 (GR1) and green roof 2 (GR2) respectively.
especially on an individual scale or for residential buildings in ret-
rofit as well as new construction [10,13,14]. Extensive green roofs
have limited plant diversity, and sedum species are most com- 2.2. SWMM
monly used. On the other side, intensive green roofs provide
greater depth for planting medium which allows it to accommo- The selection of a particular model plays an important role in
date a variety of plants to grow even with trees of different groups research work. Since 1970, there are various computer models
[13,14]. Therefore, those are said to be costly due to its initial cost have been developed for rainfall-runoff modeling and storm water
and requirement of frequent maintenance, which makes it limited quality analysis [3]. Some of them are capable to model LIDs and
for new constructions of commercial or public buildings [15]. In BMPs techniques and evaluates their effectiveness on the urban
addition to the reduction in runoff volume, green roofs also have catchment scale (e.g. SWMM, MUSIC, MIKE, etc.). In the present
a great impact on water quality and some other benefits in the con- study, we have used an SWMM tool to investigate the hydrologic
tribution of the green urban environment [14]. It helps to neutral- performance of the green roof LID. SWMM is one of the most com-
ize the acidic nature of storm water and also acts as a sink for monly used models for planning, design, analysis, and manage-
different metals like Ca, Al, Zn, Pb, Cd, Fe, Cu, etc. [16]. The green ment of storm water in urban areas [1,19,20]. It is a public
layer on the top of the building helps to maintain temperature domain dynamic rainfall-runoff simulation model developed by
and provide insulation to building against heat and cold, which U. S. Environment Protection Agency in 1971 [19]. This model

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Fig. 1. Study area map.
Table 1
Parameters and their values used in the simulation of the green roof.
Parameter Value
Storage Depth (VL) 2.5 (mm)
Vegetation Volume Fraction (VL) 10 (%)
Surface Roughness (Manning’s n) (VL) 0.18
Surface Slope (VL) 1.5 (%)
Thickness (SL) 150 (mm)
Porosity (SL) 0.45
can be used for a single event or continuous event (long term
event) simulation of runoff, which is mainly generated from the
urban catchments [21]. SWMM is a distributed model and able
to perform hydrologic as well as hydraulic modeling [20]. The run-
off component of SWMM simulates the total quantity of runoff
from a group of sub-catchments for given precipitation data. The
precipitation data may be in the form of time series of design storm
(single event) or may be historical recorded data (continuous
event). The latest version (version 5.0.1) can model low impact
development techniques along with the drainage model [1]. Vari-
ous options are available for the selection of suitable LID according
to field conditions, which includes pervious pavement, rain water
harvesting (rain barrels), rain gardens, green roofs, infiltration
trenches, and vegetative swales.
2.3. Green roof
In the present study, green roof structure has been designed in
three layers as, (i) vegetation layer (VL) where vegetation/plants
will grow with their roots in subsequent soil layer; (ii) soil layer
(SL) where roots of vegetation would be grown and captured runoff
will be retained; and (iii) drainage layer (DL) where excess runoff
will be drained off to outlet. Although the SWMM model consists
of the different parameters for different layers of the green roof,
the reduction of runoff through the green roof is affected by the
Please cite this article as: D. N. Paithankar and S. G. Taji, Investigating the hydrological performance of green roofs using storm water management model,
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3
Parameter Value
Field Capacity (SL) 19 (%)
Conductivity (SL) 1.5 (mm/hr)
Suction Head (SL) 13 (mm)
Thickness (DL) 20 (mm)
Void Fraction (DL) 0.5 (%)
Roughness (Manning’s n) (DL) 0.2
depth and type of grass or growing medium and slope provided.
New York storm water management manual suggests the depth
of the storage layer of the extensive green roof should be less than
150 mm [14] and therefore, the depth of the surface layer has been
considered as 150 mm with 0.1 grass volume (as a percentage).
Despite this, other physical parameters (e.g. frequency of rainfall
events and its duration, site conditions, etc.) could also play an
important role in the performance of green roof and should be con-
sidered to minimize inaccuracy in the results [12]. Moreover,
recent studies have reported that field capacity, hydraulic conduc-
tivity, porosity, and Manning’s coefficient are sensitive parameter
which needs to be calibrated [22]. Table 1 show the data used in
the simulation of the green roofs.
2.4. Simulations in SWMM
Since 2014, when SWMM 5.1 released, the software is equipped
with an additional ability to model LID as LID-module [12]. The
simulation of the green roof has been classified into two groups
as (i) traditional roof where no LID applied; and (ii) green roof
where hypothetical LID (green roof) has been considered over the
full catchment (roof 1 and roof 2). Both scenarios have been simu-
lated for the single as well as a continuous event. For the single
event, a design storm has been obtained by preparing Intensity-
Duration-Frequency (IDF) curve which is shown in Fig. 2. For the
4 D.N. Paithankar, S.G. Taji / Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx
Fig. 2. IDF Curve.
continuous simulation, long term hourly or sub-hourly rainfall
data is required. However, the nearest rain gauge station has only
available hourly rainfall data from the year 1979 to 2015, which
has been collected. Although some recent years data has not avail-
able at the station, there is no significant change has been detected
in monsoon or rainfall patterns over the last half-decade and aver-
age annual rainfall found to be in the range of 476 mm to 498 mm
(whereas annual average rainfall of Kopargaon is 492 mm). Fur-
ther, we have found that the data between the years 2005 to
2015 (10 years) is more consistent and therefore the same has
been used for continuous simulation. The SWMM has three routing
options as steady flow routing which assumes steady and uniform
flow within each computational time step, kinematic wave routing
which considers slope of water surface which in turns equal to con-
duit slope, and dynamic wave routing which considers backwater
effects and solves 1D Saint Venant flow equation [19]. Many stud-
ies have recommended the use of dynamic wave routing (with
time step 1 sec) to produce theoretical more accurate results
[19,23] and hence, the same has been selected in the present study.
Further, for infiltration computation, SWMM has different models
(viz. Horton model, Green-Ampt method, and Curve number
method). Among this, the Horton method is based on the infiltra-
tion curve which decreases from the maximum rate of infiltration
to minimum exponentially over the long duration rainfall. There-
fore, it uses values of maximum and minimum infiltration rate,
and a decay coefficient which represents the decrease of infiltra-
tion rate over time [24]. Most of the previous studies highlighted
the applicability and performance of the infiltration model in the
simulation. For instance, Mallari et al., [24] have used the Horton
model coupled with the existing overland flow model for the com-
putation of runoff and concluded that it improves the model sim-
ulated results. Chandramouli & Natarajan [25] have simulated
the infiltration of soil using the Kostiakov, Philip, and Horton
model and found that the results simulated with the Horton model
were closed to the actual field data. Xu et al., [26] effectively used
the Horton model in SWMM for the study of the infiltration coeffi-
cient of green land. In the present study, therefore, we have used
the Horton model for the computation of infiltration. The drying
period has been considered as 2 days which describes that the roof
will become completely dry if there is no rain for two days. The
model simulations have been carried out separately for both sce-
narios. The performance of the green roof has been worked out
in terms of the reduction of runoff volume and peak flow.
2.5. Calibration of SWMM
Initially, the required parameters for the simulation of the
model have been estimated using field data, literature, and model
Please cite this article as: D. N. Paithankar and S. G. Taji, Investigating the hydrological performance of green roofs using storm water management model,
Materials Today: Proceedings, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2020.05.085
default values. For instance, the slope of the catchment has calcu-
lated using field data, whereas the value of Manning’s ‘n’ has been
adopted from literature and percent of imperviousness has been
calculated using the manual of SWMM. Thereafter, sensitive
parameters have been identified through literature as well as
repeating simulations by adjusting single parameters at a time
and observing its effect on simulated results [27]. In the procedure,
the values of the parameter were adjusted over a range of ±30% of
their original value without changing the value of other parame-
ters and its effect on simulated result were computed [27,28].
Width of the catchment, Manning’s ‘n’ (N-Imp), and the slope of
the catchment are found to be the most sensitive parameters for
peak flow rate as well as runoff volume. During the calibration,
these sensitive parameters are adjusted (manually) in such a way
that the difference between simulated values and measured values
of runoff reduced to a minimum. The study site was having mea-
sured flow data of 10 events of rainfall from June 2012 to Septem-
ber 2012. Out of available 10 events flow data, a total of eight
events were selected for the manual calibration of the traditional
scenario in the SWMM model (without LID). The rest of the two
events were not recorded properly and therefore, they have not
considered in the calibration. For assessing the performance of
the model, there are several statistical methods are available like
the coefficient of determination (R2), RMSE Standard ratio (RSR),
percent bias (PBIAS), Nash-Sutcliffe Efficiency (NSE) Coefficient,
etc. In the present study, Nash-Sutcliffe Efficiency (NSE) Coefficient
was used [29]. The NSE is a widely used method for assessing the
accuracy of the simulation models which indicates how well-
simulated values get matched with observed values [27]. The value
of NSE varies from negative infinity to 1.0, where, 1.0 indicates the
best fit of model-simulated results with the observed data. If the
value of NSE is 0.75  NSE < 1.00, then model performance is said
to be very good, if it is 0.65  NSE < 0.75, then model performance
is said to be good, if it is 0.50  NSE < 0.65, then model perfor-
mance is said to be satisfactory and acceptable [30].
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Traditional roof simulations
Initially, simulations have been carried out for traditional roof
(without LID) for single as well as continuous rainfall events. A
design storm for the single event has been prepared from the IDF
curve. The sensitivity analysis was performed to evaluate the
changes in the output of the model due to uncertainty in the model
input. For the traditional scenario (without LID), six parameters
used by SWMM (viz. minimum infiltration rate, maximum infiltra-
tion rate, decay constant, Manning’s ‘n’ for the impervious area,
width and the slope of the catchment) are found sensitive to peak
flow rate and runoff volume [26–28]. The result of the sensitivity
analysis is shown in Figs. 3 and 4, which indicates that minimum
infiltration rate and Manning’s ‘n’ for the impervious area
(N-Imp) are the most sensitive for both, peak flow rate as well as
runoff volume. Further, any changes in the maximum infiltration
rate and decay constant do not have any noticeable influence on
the runoff peak flow, and only affect the runoff volume (Fig. 4).
The slope and width of the catchment are found to be less sensitive
for both (peak flow and volume) model output. However, any
changes in the width of the catchment may affect the assumption
of the SWMM that the depth of overland flow in a catchment is
very small as compared to the catchment width [31]. Therefore,
any modification in the width parameter should be done with care
to avoid any error in the calculation of the flow rate.
Simulations carried out in traditional roof scenario (without
LID) have been used to calibrate the model. A total of eight rainfall
 D.N. Paithankar, S.G. Taji / Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx 5

Fig. 3. Sensitivity analysis – the effect of input parameters on the peak flow rate.

Fig. 4. Sensitivity analysis – the effect of input parameters on the runoff volume.

Table 2 and measured values [18]. Fig. 5 and Fig. 6 show the graph of mea-
Values of Nash-Sutcliffe Efficiency (NSE) Coefficient for calibrated events. sured flow and simulated flow which indicates that the model is
Events (DD/MM/YYYY) NSE capable to produce duration and magnitude of peak flow rate.
07/06/2012 0.90
However, SWMM overestimating the runoff values as compared
09/06/2012 0.91 to measured values for longer duration events. For instance, in
13/06/2012 0.93 Fig. 5, SWMM simulates the value of runoff as 0.81 lit/sec at
15/06/2012 0.89 01:45:00, whereas, actual measurement of the flow shows 0.58
17/06/2012 0.79
lit/sec. The results of calibrated model simulations show peak flow
09/07/2012 0.81
31/07/2012 0.64 rate as 7.13 liter/sec and 1.45 liter/sec for green roof catchment 1
28/08/2012 0.67 (GR1) and green roof catchment 2 (GR2) respectively (as shown
in Fig. 7). The overall peak flow rate has been recorded as
8.58 liter/sec.

events have been selected for the calibration of the model which is
summarized in Table 2. From the simulation results, it was found
that the performance of the SWMM model was satisfactory in
almost all cases. The average value of NSE was found 0.81, with a
minimum of 0.64 and a maximum of 0.93 (Table 2). The values
of NSE indicate good agreement of the model between simulated
3.2. Green roof simulations
The calibrated model has been used to evaluate the hydrologic
performance of the green roof scenario. In the green roof scenario,
LID (green roof) has been considered over the total area of the sub-
catchment (100% area of the sub-catchment occupied by green roof

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Fig. 5. Comparison of simulated runoff and observed runoff (for event 07/06/2012).

Fig. 6. Comparison of simulated runoff and observed runoff (for event 13/06/2012).

Fig. 7. Simulated runoff from tradition roof (without green roof).

LID). Various parameters adopted in the simulated are given in
Table 1. The results show that peak flow has been reduced from
7.13 ltr/sec to 6.36 ltr/sec for GR-1 and 1.45 ltr/sec to 1.30 ltr/sec
for GR-2 (Fig. 8). From Fig. 8, it can be seen that the provision of
the green roof shows a considerable reduction in the runoff rates
for small duration storms. Initially, the green roof starts to retain
the runoff up to its storage capacity, and thereafter, the runoff will
start to collect in drainage through the drainage mat (Fig. 9).
Reduction in total runoff was recorded as from 8.58 ltr/sec to
7.66 ltr/sec. Green roof promising to reduce a considerable amount
of runoff as a 62.5% reduction from GR-1 catchment; 60.5% reduc-
tion from GR-2 catchment; and 61.5% reduction from total runoff
of the system. However, various parameters of the green roof LID
are sensitive (viz. initial moisture condition, depth of storage layer,
porosity, conductivity, and suction head) to peak flow rate and run-
off volume. Fig. 3 shows the effect of these parameters on the peak
flow rate. Porosity and conductivity are found as the most sensitive
parameters to the peak flow rate as compared to the suction head
and initial moisture condition. Similar to the traditional scenario,
peak flow rate found to be sensitive for N-Imp in green roof scenar-
ios. Although the initial moisture condition has considered 0% for
the event-based simulation, it needs to investigate at the micro-
level to evaluate its effect on the performance of the green roof
under continuous simulation. Storage layer depth highly influences
the performance of the green roof in terms of total runoff volume,
hence, its influence on annual runoff volume has been plotted sep-
arately (Fig. 11).
The results of continuous simulation of the green roof over the
year 2005 to 2012 show considerable reduction in total runoff at
the starting of rainfall event and which goes on decreasing for
longer duration events where the amount of runoff excess to stor-
age layer gets drained to the outlet. Fig. 10 shows the comparison

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Fig. 8. Comparison of runoff through green roof LID catchment and traditional catchment.

Fig. 9. Reduction in total runoff.

Fig. 11. Effect of storage layer depth on the annual runoff generation.

Fig. 10. Comparison in total runoff from the catchment under continuous
simulation.
of total runoff through the catchment with and without a green
roof scenario. It indicates a reduction in the total runoff at the ini-
tial stages, which goes on decreasing as duration increases. As the
depth of storage becomes saturated with water, the performance of
the green roof goes on decreasing which indicates that the depth of
the storage layer plays an important role in the performance of the
green roof. The effect of the storage layer on the reduction of runoff
can be seen from Fig. 11, which shows that as the storage layer
depth increases, the reduction in runoff rate also increases. In gen-
eral, Fig. 11 indicates that green roofs with deeper storage can pro-
vide more reduction of annual runoff [10]. In the present study, the
depth of the storage layer was considered as 150 mm where initial
storage of the green roof was recorded as 12.75 mm and final stor-
age was 19.75 mm.

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4. Conclusion
Recently developed low impact development (LID) techniques
for restoration of pre-development conditions are nowadays
become a common and effective solution to minimize the urban-
ization impact. The literature cited in this paper demonstrates that
the green roofs, one of the LID techniques, are effective and suit-
able for small urban catchments to achieve sustainable urban
design goals. It acts as a source control technique that utilizes
unused space of roofs for improving storm water management
strategies.
The present study investigating the installation of green roofs
which is assumed as a hypothetic retrofitting scenario according
to a sustainable storm water mitigation strategy for a selected
urban catchment and performance has been evaluated using EPA
SWMM. Initially, the model was calibrated for eight measured flow
events and the performance of the model was assessed using a
Nash-Sutcliffe Efficiency (NSE) Coefficient. The average value of
NSE was found 0.81, with a minimum of 0.64 and a maximum of
0.93. The calibrated model was employed to investigate the hydro-
logic performance under single as well as continuous simulation.
The simulation results point out that the integration of green roof
LID contributes to the reduction of the quantity of storm water
runoff by increasing the retention period. The reduction of runoff
was recorded as 62.5% from GR-1 catchment and 60.5% from GR-
2 catchment; whereas 61.5% reduction of overall runoff.
This study pointed out the performance of the green roofs for
improving the retention of runoff by providing a storage layer to
mitigate altered peak flow in the urban areas. However, the hydro-
logical behavior of a green roof is site-specific, and therefore the
site-specific conditions and parameters like characteristics of the
vegetation and physical properties of its layers are needed to be
considered in the evaluation of its performance. Therefore, more
research at the micro-level is necessary to assess the role of the
green roof slope, the effect of vegetation cover and the antecedent
period on the performance of the green roofs to get more reliable
results. Moreover, other climate parameters like temperature,
evaporation, evapotranspiration, humidity, etc. should also be con-
sidered while computing the performance of the green roof on the
catchment scale.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Deepak N. Paithankar: Data curation, Formal analysis, Funding
acquisition, Methodology, Project administration, Resources,
Supervision, Writing - original draft. Satish G. Taji: Conceptualiza-
tion, Investigation, Methodology, Software, Validation, Visualiza-
tion, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing finan-
cial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared
to influence the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgements
Authors are thankful to the Head (Civil Engineering
Department), Director, SRES’s Sanjivani College of Engineering,
and Management of Sanjivani Group of Institutes, Kopargaon for
their continuous support.
Please cite this article as: D. N. Paithankar and S. G. Taji, Investigating the hydrological performance of green roofs using storm water management model,
Materials Today: Proceedings, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2020.05.085
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