Surface Drainage/Rational

Method

1
Transverse slope

2
Longitudinal slope

3
Longitudinal channel

4
 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. Estimate of the quantity of water to reach the
system
2. Hydraulic design of system elements
3. Comparison of different materials that serve
same purpose

5
 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 6
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

Iowa DOT Design Manual, Chapter 4, The Rational

8
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

ΣAi

10
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

11
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)

12
 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

13
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

14
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

15
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)
16
Tc: Equation from Iowa DOT Manual
(See nomograph)

17
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

18
19
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

20
Grass Surface,
mannings roughness
coefficient = 0.4

21
Try I = 5 in/hr

22
Tc = 18 min

23
Example (continued)

 Tc with first iteration is 18 min

 Check against tables in DOT manual

24
Keokuk is in SE, code = 9

25
26
Convert intensity to inches/hour
27
From previous chart:
6.32 inches occurs over
5 days (120 hours) =
6.32 in/120 hours =
0.05 in/hr

28
From previous chart:
4.06 inches occurs over
18 hours =
4.06 in/18 hours = 0.34
in/hr

29
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

30
Example (continued)

I < Tc
Next iteration, try intensity = 4.0 inch/hr

31
 Slope = 0.02

I = 4.25
inches/hr
Tc = 20 min
For second iteration, tc = 20 min, OK!
32
 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

33
 Example (continued)

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

34
 Example (continued)

Interpolate
I at 20 min = 4.3
inches/hour

Close so I = 4.25
inches/hour

35
Area

 Area of watershed
 Defined by topography
 Use ArcView contours in lab

36
Flow

 Q = CIA

 Calculate once C, I, and A have been

found

37