The Relevance of Grated Inlets within Surface Drainage Systems in the Field of Urban Flood Resilience. A Review of Several Experimental and Numerical Simulation Approaches

Beniamino Russo, Manuel Gómez Valentín and Jackson Tellez-Álvarez
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Beniamino Russo: Group of Hydraulics and Environmental Engineering (GIHA), Technical College of La Almunia (EUPLA), University of Zaragoza, La Almunia de Doña Godina, 50100 Zaragoza, Spain
Manuel Gómez Valentín: FLUMEN Research Institute, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (DECA), Technical University of Catalonia (UPC)—BarcelonaTECH, 08034 Barcelona, Spain
Jackson Tellez-Álvarez: FLUMEN Research Institute, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (DECA), Technical University of Catalonia (UPC)—BarcelonaTECH, 08034 Barcelona, Spain

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 13, 1-13

Abstract: Urban drainage networks should be designed and operated preferably under open channel flow conditions without flux return, backwater, or overflows. In the case of extreme storm events, urban pluvial flooding is generated by the excess of surface runoff that could not be conveyed by pressurized sewer pipes, due to its limited capacity or, many times, due to the poor efficiency of surface drainage systems to collect uncontrolled overland flow. Generally, the hydraulic design of sewer systems is addressed more for underground networks, neglecting the surface drainage system, although inadequate inlet spacings and locations can cause dangerous flooding with relevant socio-economic impacts and the interruption of critical services and urban activities. Several experimental and numerical studies carried out at the Technical University of Catalonia (UPC) and other research institutions demonstrated that the hydraulic efficiency of inlets can be very low under critical conditions (e.g., high circulating overland flow on steep areas). In these cases, the hydraulic efficiency of conventional grated inlets and continuous transverse elements can be around 10–20%. Their hydraulic capacity, expressed in terms of discharge coefficients, shows the same criticism with values quite far from those that are usually used in several project practice phases. The grate clogging phenomenon and more intense storm events produced by climate change could further reduce the inlets’ performance. In this context, in order to improve the flood urban resilience of our cities, the relevance of the hydraulic behavior of surface drainage systems is clear.

Keywords: pluvial floods; urban resilience; inlet systems; hydraulic efficiency; discharge coefficient; experimental campaigns; numerical studies (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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