Inflow based investigations on the efficiency of a lamella particle separator for the treatment of stormwater runoffs

Abstract

The present design of stormwater tanks is based on the creation of storage volume to retain stormwater and the prevention or reduction of stormwater overflows. The treatment of stormwater is often improved with mechanical equipment. The general layout rules do usually not include the appropriate choice of design inflow related to the chosen treatment equipment. In the following investigations it was the task to analyze the hydraulic efficiency and the overflow behaviour of a lamella particle separator inside a stormwater tank under different design approaches regarding the chosen design inflow. Therefore six scenarios with different precipitation yield approaches were chosen and applied to a given constant sized catchment to calculate the design inflows. For a given minimum particle size, the necessary number of lamellas were determined for the scenarios and standard stormwater tanks were dimensioned. These stormwater tanks were modelled in the hydrologic model SMUSI to investigate the overflow behaviour of the different tank sizes. The number of overflow events, their duration and maximum flow rates were the results of the modelling. Comparisons to the design inflows were carried out. The treated particles sizes at the overflow events were determined reversible and compared to the original chosen minimum particle sizes.