Abstract

Bridge deck drainage is essential to prevent hydroplaning and maintain safety along major roadways. With projected changes in climate, current designs may not be sufficient and a better understanding of the primary controls (climate, bridge deck, and inlet design) on the hydraulic efficiency and sediment removal of drainage systems is needed to maintain public safety. To evaluate the controls on hydraulic drainage efficiency, 576 controlled laboratory experiments were conducted testing grate type (rectangular bar vs. curved vane) and downspout configuration (square vs. circular and 20 cm vs. 25 cm) across a range of flow rates, cross slopes, and longitudinal slopes. An additional 144 sediment erosion experiments were performed to identify controls on the removal of sediment. Hydraulic testing indicated that inflow driven by climate is a primary control on drainage efficiency and spread of water on a roadway. For anthropogenic controls, downspout opening size was found to be the primary control followed by longitudinal slope. Sediment removal results indicated that inflow regime and grate type were the primary controls on the sediment removal rate. Given that inflow, driven by climate, is a control on both hydraulic and sediment removal performance, hydraulic engineers should consider forecasted changes in rainfall intensity in their present-day drainage designs. We provide design guidance and discussion for developing a proactive approach to hydraulic infrastructure in the face of future climate uncertainty.

Highlights

  • The use of experimental model allowed for directly testing the impact of longitudinal slope, cross slope, inflow, and inlet type on the removal of gutter flow from a roadway surface and width of water on the roadway

  • Our results indicate that for bridge decks with large cross slopes, the intensity of gutter flow, which we infer to be a proxy for precipitation intensity and climate, is a primary control on the performance of water capture efficiency and spread

  • Our results indicate that for bridge decks with large cross slopes, the intensity of gutter 7floofw16, which we infer to be a proxy for precipitation intensity and climate, is a primary control on the performance of water capture efficiency and spread

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Summary

Introduction

Roadway systems are important aspects of the modern world and allow for the interaction between people and communities that prompts economic growth and stability [1]. To protect this function and ensure trust within the public, traffic safety is a top priority for engineers. There is potential that current drainage system designs lack adequate capacity to handle these forecasted stressors, lowering the safety for commuters on roadways [4,5].

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