Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID 2018DC200B

Long-term Hydraulic performance assessment of bio-retention and permeable pavement systems with and without underdrains using monitoring study and modeling

Institute: District of Columbia
Year Established: 2018 Start Date: 2018-03-01 End Date: 2019-02-28
Total Federal Funds: $9,946 Total Non-Federal Funds: $22,020

Principal Investigators: Arash Massoudieh

Abstract: One of the challenges in designing infiltration-based LIDs including bioretentions, permeable pavements and bio-swales is deciding whether an underdrain system are needed or not. Underdrains prevent flooding of the system does not occur, but on the other hand reduce the overall effectiveness of the LIDs due to the short circuiting that may happen and reducing the treatment capacity. Our goal in this research is to evaluate the long term performance of green infrastructure to be built in Northwest DC by the DC department of transportation using continuous monitoring and then generalization using modeling to suggest a methodology to answer this question on a case-by-case basis. In order to achieve this goal, the following tasks will be conducted: • A rain-garden and a permeable pavement to be constructed as part of the retrofit project in Klingle watershed by DDOT will be instrumented using our newly developed integrated systems and the outflows from the underdrains, rain volumes, moisture will be monitored continuously over a period of three months. • A model of representing the rain garden and the permeable pavement will be constructed using the Green Infrastructure Flexible Model (GIFMod) and will be parameterized based on the data. • The model will be used to simulate the performance of the GI system based on long-term historical precipitation record. • The model will be used to evaluate the effect of putting in place the underdrain or lack-thereof on the overall performance of the LIDs and the flooding risk.