Engineering A.
SOFRONAS, CONSULTING ENGINEER
Case Histories
Case 114: A local flooding event at a plant site
During a heavy rainstorm, flooding oc-
curred at a plant location that had never
before flooded. Concern arose that the un-
derground storm sewer lines had become
plugged with debris; however, it was unde-
sirable to flush out the underground lines
if it was not strictly necessary. Had the 6
in. of rain that had fallen in an hour (inch-
es per hour, or iph) caused the flooding?
The rain accumulation may have been too
much for the storm sewer drains to handle.
Typically, a heavy rain is 2 iph for the same
time period. The question was: Were the
drains plugged, or was the flooding due to
the sudden high rainfall rate?
An analysis can help answer this
question. FIG. 1 shows a depressed basin-
type area (Abasin ) with the storm sewer
drains (Adrain ) that had flooded. The area
(Arain ft2) is the rain shed that captures the
rainfall and directs it to the drains. When
the water height (h ft) in the basin (Abasin ),
which is a low point, reaches the height of
the curb drain, the water starts to build up.
The drains are gravity-type drains with a
flow area of (Acurb ft2), and there are (N)
number in the basin area. The rainfall rate
is (r ft/sec) over a period of time (tsec ).
With this information, an analytical
model can be developed. The theory is
much like filling a bathtub. When incom-
ing water (meaning the faucet or rainfall
from the watershed) is greater than the
outgoing water (meaning the drain or
storm sewers), the level (h ft) will build
up in the basin (meaning tub) and eventu-
ally fill to a height (h ft) in (tsec ) seconds.
The water going into the basin can be
calculated with Eq. 1:
Q in = Arain × r (1)
The water out of the drains due to
gravity can be calculated with Eq. 2:
Q out = 0.8 × N × Adrain × (2 × g × h) 0.5
(2)
The difference is the amount stored,
which builds up with time (tsec ), as
shown in Eqs. 3 and 4:
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FIG. 1. Flooded basin area.
(Q in – Q out ) = Q stored = TABLE 1. Flow model results
(3)
Abasin × h ÷ tsec Flow Flow
entering, leaving, Result,
Arain × r – 0.8 × N × Adrain ×
Condition Qenter Qleave h ft
(2 × g × h)0.5 = Abasin × h ÷ tsec (4)
Heavy rain, 44.4 cfs 32.5 cfs 1.6 ft
This equation can be solved for (h) 6 iph buildup
by iterative or closed form methods, as
Normal rainfall, 14.8 cfs 12.8 cfs 0.3 ft
shown in Eq. 5: 2 iph buildup
During the storm, N = 2,
Acurb = 2 ft2, Arain = 320,000 ft2, appears that the heavy hourly rainfall had
Abasin = 25,000 ft2, r = 1.4 × (5) caused the flooding.
10–4 ft/sec (6 in./hr), This information was discussed with
g = 32.2 ft/sec2, tsec = 3,600 sec the plant facilities manager so that a plan
could be developed for any future, sud-
TABLE 1 shows that the drains could not den heavy rainfalls of this magnitude.
handle 6 iph of rain, and the level built The underground drain piping did not
up during the rainfall. A normal heavy need to be flushed.
rainfall of 2 iph does not appear to build NOTE
up above the drain height. Some idea of Case 113 was published in HP July 2021.
whether the drains were plugged can be For past cases, please visit
determined by noticing how long it takes www.HydrocarbonProcessing.com.
for the basin to empty after the rain has LITERATURE CITED
stopped, as shown in Eqs. 6 and 7: 1
Sofronas, A., Unique Engineering Methods for
Analyzing Failures and Catastrophic Events: A Practical
Q drain = 0.8 × N × Adrain × Guide for Engineers, Wiley, Hoboken, New Jersey, To
[2 × g × (h ÷ 2)]0.5 = 23.7 cfs (6) be published in late 2021.
(t) time to empty = Abasin × h ÷ TONY SOFRONAS, D. Eng, was the
(7)
Q drain = 1,795 sec or 0.5 hr worldwide lead mechanical engineer
for ExxonMobil Chemicals before
The site was dry again in less than 1 hr, retiring. He now owns Engineered
meaning that it had drained at the proper Products, which provides consulting
capacity due to gravity alone. This sug- and engineering seminars on
machinery and pressure vessels.
gests that the drains were acting as de- Dr. Sofronas has authored several engineering books
signed and probably were not plugged. It and numerous technical articles on analytical methods.
Hydrocarbon Processing | OCTOBER 2021 15