Abstract
Bioswales are commonly constructed along roadways to control stormwater runoff. Many factors can affect the performance of a bioswale such as the size of the bioswale and its associated drainage area, rainfall characteristics, site conditions, soil properties, and deterioration of the bioswale’s condition over usage. Transportation agencies and engineering communities need a reliable and convenient method for predicting the effectiveness of bioswale. Although available software tools can be used to model and analyze design options, input values for a large number of variables and highly skilled modelers are required to handle these sophisticated modeling tools. The objective of this study was to develop a simplified and easy-to-use mathematical model for predicting the effectiveness of bioswales through empirical predictions of stormwater runoff as a function of four key parameters: area ratio (bioswale surface area to its drainage service area), rainfall depth, rainfall intensity, and sediment accumulation (build-up) on bioswale’s surface area. A PCSWMM model was developed to simulate the physical conditions of a field-scale bioswale. This PCSWMM tool was also used to simulate an idealized (conceptual) catchment model that represents common highway geometries and characteristics. A total of 72 scenarios were simulated on various combinations of the four studied parameters: area ratio (9%, 13%); rainfall depth (2.54, 5.08, 7.62, 10.16 cm); rainfall intensity (2.54, 5.08, 10.16 cm/h); and sediment accumulation (0, 0.25, 1.78 cm). Half of the total scenarios (i.e., 36 scenarios) were used to develop a new simplified mathematical model, and the other 36 scenarios were used to calibrate and validate this newly developed model. The analysis revealed a reasonable correlation (R2 = 0.967) between modelled predictions and PCSWMM-simulated results, indicating the newly developed mathematical model can serve as an adequate alternative for simulating bioswales’ performance for stormwater runoff control.
Highlights
The incremental increase of bioswale runoffs becomes increasingly prominent at higher rainfall intensity (RI) and increased rainfall depth (RD)
At the highest simulated RI of 10.16 cm/h, the runoff was approximately only 8.5% (i.e., 80 L) of the 942 L run-on to the bioswale; and there was no significant difference in bioswale runoffs between Area Ratio (AR) 9% and AR 13%
Water 2021, 13, x FOR PAEbEsRoRluEtVeIEPWercentage Error (MAPE) between the calculated runoffs using the mathematical equation and the simulated runoffs with Personal Computer Storm Water Management Model (PCSWMM) of the 72 scenarios is less than 18%, which shows a reasonable estimate of the mathematical model
Summary
Best Management Practices (BMPs) [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30,31] have been widely used for reducing the adverse impacts of stormwater runoff on receiving waters [2,16,26]. Transportation administration agencies and engineering communities need an easy-touse, reliable, and convenient tool for adequately predicting the effectiveness of a bioswale’s control on stormwater runoff from roadways, so that cost-effective measures of stormwater runoff control and pollution reduction can be developed and implemented. Such a tool presently is not available [23]. Transportation agencies and engineers can use modeling software tools such as the Storm Water Management Model (SWMM) to build a physical model and simulate project specifics and analyze design options. The simplified mathematical model by this study was intended to establish empirical predictions of stormwater runoff as a function of four key parameters: AR, RD, RI, and SA
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