CIV E 482 – Design Lab

Stromwater Management

What is the importance of today’s Lab?

Stormwater Management is necessary to improve water quality.

Stormwater is rainwater or melted snow that runs off streets, lawns and other sites.
When stormwater is absorbed into soil, it is filtered and ultimately replenishes
aquifers or flows into streams and rivers. (Source: www.epa.gov)

This lab will give you exposure to the impacts of stormwater and give you practice on
how to size culvert and basic BMPs.

For this class, you will only need to mitigate for the roadway runoff.

Merge the Surfaces

Merging surfaces allows you to see the final grading, which is useful when assessing your proposed
earthwork and drainage.

 Surfaces menu ⇒ Create Surface…

 Type: TIN Surface
 Create a new layer called C-Merged-With-RDWY
 Name: Merged-With-RDWY
 Style: Contours 5’ and 25’ (Design), click OK

You will now see the Merged-With-RDWY Surface item in the

Toolspace
 Expand Surfaces
 Expand Merged-With-RDWY
 Expand Definition
 Right click on Edits
o Select Paste Surface
o Select the Existing Surface (first) and click OK
o Repeat the previous steps and Paste the Proposed Roadway Surface (last)

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 Before: Unmerged existing ground After: Merged existing ground and
and roadway surfaces roadway surfaces into one final
graded surface

 Within the Toolspace, right click on the Existing Surface, and select Surface Properties… and
change the Surface Style to _No Display
 Repeat the above step for the Proposed Roadway Surface and change the Surface Style to _No
Display
 You should now see the Merged-With-RDWY surface clearly
 Turn off the sample lines as detailed below:
o Expand Corridors from within Toolspace > right click on the corridor that you would like
to edit > select Properties…
o Click on the Codes tab > copy the current code set style and rename it to “Revised”
o Click on the Information tab, and change the name to “Display No Sample Lines”
o Click on the Codes tab > click on the edit Code set style > expand Link > on the default
row, click Standard under the Style column > Copy, and Rename it to “No Display”
under the Information tab, and turn off the visibility of the Link under the Display tab,
click Apply and OK > click standard under the Style column and change it to No Show,
and click OK > click Apply and OK > click Apply and OK again.

Drainage Assessment

 Right click on the Merged-With-RDWY Surface

 Click Edit Surface Style…
o Click the Display tab
o Make the Watershed & Slope Arrows Component
Types visible
This will reveal the watersheds and the runoff behavior
of both the terrain and the roadway

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Find the Drainage Area’s discharge point

 Click the Layer Properties manager

 Create the following layer:
o C-DRN-FLOWPATH (set current)
 Set the color to Magenta

 Analyze tab ⇒ Flow Paths ⇒ Water Drop

 Press Enter and select Merged-
With_RDWY
 Set the layer to C-DRN-FLOWPATH
 Change Place Marker to YES
 Click OK

 Look at the contours and click at various

locations within your boundary to see where
the runoff drains. Press Enter to end the command.

Notice where there are flow paths that end adjacent to or flow along the edge of your daylight. Those are
the areas that you should consider designing a culvert to channel the upstream water under the road.
 Create a new layer called C-DCV
and set it current. Based on the
Watersheds, Slope Arrows and
the Rain Fall Paths - sketch out a
boundary (using a Polyline) for
each of the watershed areas, but
only draw the watershed within
your property boundary (for this
class). Make sure that each of
the polylines are closed and
have an elevation of “0”.
From this point, you will be able
to determine the total number of
drainage areas within the project
boundary, and you will also be
able to determine the area of each.

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 Below is a 3D view of the pervious image showing which areas of the roadway are in fill and
which areas of the roadway are in cut. Also, this shows the general flow path of storm water.

Fill Area

Cut Area

Where the water flows under the roadway, you will need to design a culvert. Where the water flows
over the roadway, you may want to design a drainage ditch, a roadside channel, and add median cuts
while the road is super elevated to avoid having to install inlets and to allow the water to move off the
road to a safe area for treatment.

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Determine the elevation at the inlet points

Initial Culvert Layout

Proposed Once you have identified the location(s) of where storm
Culverts water will intersect the road, you will need to draw in a
tentative line to illustrate each crossing.

Use the Polyline command to sketch in each necessary

culvert. Be sure to create a new layer called C-
CULVERT to best manage your layers when printing.
Daylight line
(limit of grading) When drawing the culvert pipes, keep in mind that each
culvert must extend to the limit of grading on each
side of the road.

Determine the elevation at

the discharge point

Culvert Design
Determine the 100-year discharge (Q100) for all of your culverts. Consider using an excel spreadsheet so
that you can easily repeat the operations. If done in an excel spreadsheet, BE SURE to show ALL of
your hand calculations for at least one (1) of the culverts.

You will need to consult the Highway Design Manual Chapters 800 through 870, and the 6 HOUR
For your Information

Rainfall Isopluvial maps in the San Diego County Hydrology Manual to complete this section.

Caltrans Highway Design Manual: https://dot.ca.gov/programs/design/manual-highway-design-manual-hdm

County of San Diego Hydrology Manual: http://goo.gl/OmU6Nc

Your Project’s Design Data

Site Location: Near California State Route 56 (the Ted Williams Freeway) between Interstate 5, in
Carmel Valley, and Interstate 15 in Rancho Penasquitos/Sabre Springs.
Aerial map - https://goo.gl/n7Yvpi

Entrance Type: Grooved end with Headwall

Coefficients & Factors (for this course)

Soil Type = Group D Entrance loss coefficient ( Ke ) = 0.2 (chiefly

clay like soils for this area)

Manning Design Value ( n ) = 0.013 Tailwater ( Tw ) = 3.5ft

(for smooth concrete pipes)

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Information to Determine

Runoff Coefficient ( C ) for Undisturbed

Natural Terrain – Refer to page 3-6 in the
(June 2003) San Diego County Hydrology
(see link above) for the C value based on
Table 3-1. Keep in mind that a larger value
corresponds to higher runoff & lower
infiltration.

Runoff Coefficient Chosen: ____

Culvert Lengths
Based on the actual length of your
designed/sketched culverts. The culverts
should extend from daylight line to daylight
line

Culvert Length(s):
1) 2)
3) 4)
5) 6)
7) 8)

Culvert Length

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 Time of Concentration ( TC ) – This refers to the time required for a particle
of water to travel from the most hydrologically remote point in the
watershed/drainage area to the point of collection (the inlet of your culvert
for the culvert calculations. Refer pages 3-9 through 3-19 in the (June
2003) San Diego County Hydrology Manual to determine the TC in
minutes based on Figure 3-4.

Where:
∆E = change in elevation along he effective slope line (in feet)

L = Length of the longest flow path (in feet using Figure 3-4)

If TC is computed to be less than 5-minutes, as a general rule, use a minimum

TC of 5-minutes

Time of Concentration: _______________

Rainfall Intensity
This refers to the average rainfall in inches/hour for a duration of time equal to the time of concentration
for a specific storm frequency.
Workspace
Equation:

I = 7.44 * P6 * Tc (-0.645)

Where:
P6 is the adjusted 6-hour storm rainfall amount

Tc is the time of concentration in minutes Note: P6 must be within 45% & 65% of
P24, otherwise make adjustments to P6
Areas

 Expand Surfaces (in Toolspace) and right click on the Merged-With-RDWY Surface
 Click Edit Surface Style…
o Click the Display tab
o Make the Watershed & Slope Arrows Component Types invisible

 Under Merged-With-RDWY, expand Definition

 Right click on Boundaries, and select Add
o Give the boundary a name (i.e ROW-BNDRY)
o Click OK
o Zoom in and select the outermost Right-of-Way boundary to reduce the surface clutter on
your screen

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The contributing drainage area for each culvert will be based on the watershed/drainage areas you
sketched previously. Click on the polylines and view the properties to see the area of each.

Area #1
As an example: Catchment Area #1 = 388,747 SQ FT

Convert to acres

(388,747 SQ FT) x (2.296×10^-5 ACRES) = 8.924 acres

Culvert Drainage Areas (provide the drainage area for each

culvert):
1) 2)
3) 4)
5) 6)
7) 8)

Typical Inlet Control Flow Cross Section

Headwater – Water above the culvert invert

(at the entrance of the culvert).

Tailwater – The hydraulic conditions

downstream of the culvert site must be
evaluated to determine a tailwater depth for a
range of discharge.

Inlet Control – Inlet control occurs when the culvert barrel is capable of conveying more flow than the
inlet will accept.

Outlet Control – Outlet control flow occurs when the culvert barrel is not capable of conveying as much
flow as the inlet opening will accept.

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Culvert Design Procedures

Nomograph solutions provide reliable designs for many applications. It should be remembered that
velocity, hydrograph routing, roadway overtopping, and outlet scour require additional and separate
computations beyond what can be obtained from the nomographs. The following example is for the
(basic) design of a concrete pipe culvert.

The following design procedure requires the use of inlet and outlet nomographs

(Step 1)
List the design data needed:
Q = discharge (cfs) L = culvert length (ft)
S = culvert slope (ft/ft) TW= tailwater depth (ft)
Ke = inlet loss coefficient (grooved-end) D = pipe diameter (in)
V = velocity for trial diameter (ft/s) dc = critical depth
HW= allowable headwater depth for the design storm (ft)

(Step 2)
Determine trial culvert size by assuming a trial velocity between 2 to 10 ft/s & computing the
culvert area
A = Q/V
Determine the culvert diameter

(Step 3)
Find the actual HW for the trial size culvert for both inlet and outlet control.
For inlet control, use the inlet control nomograph with D and Q, and find HW/D
for the proper entrance type.

Compute HW and, if too large or too small, try another culvert size before
computing HW for outlet control.

For outlet control, use the outlet control nomograph with the culvert length,
entrance loss coefficient, and trial culvert diameter.

To compute HW, connect the length scale for the type of entrance condition and
culvert diameter scale with a straight line, pivot on the turning line, and draw a
straight line from the design discharge through the turning point to the head loss
scale H. Compute the headwater elevation HW from the following Equation

HW = H + ho - LS
where:
H = head loss, ft
ho = ½(critical depth + D) or tailwater depth, whichever is greater (maximum =
D)
L = culvert length
S = culvert slope
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[EXAMPLE] Culvert Design Calculation
Example provided by the Knox County Tennessee Storm Water Management Manual

Size a concrete pipe culvert based on the following example data

Input Data

Discharge for 2-year flood = 35 cfs Discharge for 25-year flood = 70 cfs

Allowable headwater (HW) for 25-year discharge = 5.25 ft Length of culvert = 100ft

Natural channel invert elevation: inlet = 15.50 ft & outlet = 14.30 ft

Culvert slope = 0.012 ft/ft Entrance type = Groove end with headwall

Tailwater depth for 25-year discharge = 3.5 ft

Calculations

Step 1 Assume a culvert velocity of 5 ft/s. Required flow area = 70 cfs/(5 ft/s) = 14 ft2 (for the 25-yr
recurrence flood).

Step 2 The corresponding culvert diameter is about 48 in (4 ft). This can be calculated by using the
formula for area of a circle: Area = (3.14D2)/4 or D = (Area times 4/(3.14))0.5

Therefore,
D = 9(14)(4)/(3.14))0.5(12in/1ft)
D = 50.7 in

Step 3 A grooved end culvert with a headwall is selected for the design. Using the inlet control
nomograph, with a pipe diameter of 48 inches and a discharge of 70 cfs; read a HW/D value of
0.93

Step 4 The depth of headwater (HW) is (0.93) x (4) = 3.72 ft, which is less than the allowable headwater
of 5.25 ft. Since 3.72 ft is considerably less than 5.25, try a smaller culvert.

Step 5 Using the same procedures outlined in Steps 3 and 4 the following results were obtained.

42 – inch culvert – HW = 4.13 ft

36 – inch culvert – HW = 4.98 ft
Select a 36-inch culvert to check for outlet control

Step 6 The culvert is checked for outlet control by using outlet control nomograph

With an entrance loss coefficient Ke of 0.20, a culvert length of 100 ft, and a pipe diameter of 36
in, an H value of 2.8 ft is determined. The headwater for outlet control is computed by the
equation: HW = H = ho - LS

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 Compute ho:
ho = TW or ½ (critical depth in culvert + D), whichever is greater
ho = 3.5 ft or ho = 0.5(2.7 + 3.0) = 2.85 ft

Therefore:
ho = 3.5 ft

The headwater depth for outlet control is:

HW = H + ho – LS = 2.8 + 3.5 – (100)(0.012) = 5.10 ft

Step 7 Since HW for outlet (5.10 ft) is greater than the HW for the inlet control (4.98 ft), outlet control
governs the culvert design. Thus, the maximum headwater expected for a 25-year recurrence
flood is 5.10 ft, which is less than the allowable headwater of 5.25 ft.

Step 8 Estimate outlet exit velocity. Since this culvert is based on the outlet control and the discharge
into an open channel downstream with tailwater is above the culvert, the culvert will be flowing
full at the flow depth in the channel. Using the design peak discharge of 70 cfs and the area of a
36-inch or 3.0-foot diameter, the exit velocity will be:

Q = VA

V = 70/((3.14)(3.0)2/4) = 9.9 ft/s

With this high velocity, consideration should be given to provide an energy dissipater at the
culvert outlet.

Step 9 Check for minimum velocity using 2-year flow of 35 cfs.

Therefore: V = 35/((3.14)(3.0)2/4) = 5.0 ft/s  minimum of 2.0 therefore, OK

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 Inlet Control Nomograph

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 Outlet Control Nomograph

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 Graph Source:
Iowa Stormwater Management Manual

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