Development of Effluent Concentration Models for Sediment Scoured from Catchbasin Sumps

Abstract

The ability of catchbasin sumps and hydrodynamic separators to remove sediment must be balanced with their ability to retain the previously captured material by preventing scour. The sediment scour process in these storm-water structures differs from the unidirectional scour and sediment transport process that occurs in pipes and channels. The hydrodynamics is affected by the particular characteristics of the hydraulic structure. The study of sediment scour in these devices requires incorporation of all the factors involved in the scour phenomenon and is best supported through computational fluid dynamic modeling (CFD) verified experimentally. Scour can be documented in the effluent as suspended sediment or total suspended solids concentration, a parameter of critical importance in storm-water quality management. This paper presents two simplified models for estimating effluent suspended sediment concentration attributable to scour of previously captured sediment. These models are based on results obtained from full-scale physical experimentation and calibrated and validated CFD modeling over a wide range of operating conditions where different particles sizes would be scoured. This paper also shows the effects of the armoring layer and of homogeneous and heterogeneous sediment sizes on the effluent concentration patterns.