Hydrological Model of LID with Rainfall-Watershed-Bioretention System

Abstract

Sustainable water management is crucial in the reduction of water pollution and floods. New techniques should be investigated in order to avoid present and future problems such as flood, drought, and water contamination. For this purpose, Low Impact Development-Best Management Practice (LID-BMP) has recently come into the stage in storm water management. Vegetative swales, green roofs, bioretentions, storm water wetlands, rain barrels, permeable asphalts and pavements are among LID-BMPs. Bioretention type of LID is implemented to diminish adverse effects of urbanization such as flood by reducing peak flows on surface and thus managing storm water runoff. The aim of this study is to investigate the hydrological performance of bioretentions by developing a hydrological model based on the data obtained using experimental setup called Rainfall-Watershed-Bioretention (RWB). The hydrological model of RWB (HM-RWB) consists of two main components: (i) rainfall-runoff model in which kinematic wave theory is used for simulation of surface runoff generated over the drainage area that reaches the bioretention as inflow; (ii) runoff-bioretention flow model in which Green-Ampt method under unsteady rainfall is employed and further improved by incorporating the effect of ponding depth on bioretention for the simulation of outflow at the exit of the bioretention. It is observed that the results of the hydrological model developed herein are in good agreement with the measured data obtained in the RWB experimental setup.