Sediment Removal from Stormwater Runoff

Pandit, Ashok; Gopalakrishnan, Ganesh; ,

Sediment Removal from Stormwater Runoff

by Ashok Pandit,
Ganesh Gopalakrishnan,

Document Type: Proceeding Paper

Part of: North American Water and Environment Congress & Destructive Water

Abstract:

Sediment traps, also known as baffle boxes, are being used throughout the state of Florida to remove sediment from stomiwater. A baffle box is divided into three compartments by two bathers, also known as baffles. An experimental study was conducted to determine the removal efficiency of a typical sediment box (dimensions 3.51 m x 2.13 m x 213 m) under various field conditions. A clear acrylic laboratory scale model (dimensions 58.4 cm x 35.6 cm x 35.6 cm) having a scale ratio, L_r, =6, was constructed for this purpose. A reddish brown, sandy clay, typically found on baseball fields was used to conduct 24 experiments with varying flowrates, entrance velocities, and sediment concentrations. The removal efficiency, on a weight basis, of each chamber, and the overall removal efficiency of the box was determined for each experiment. The average removal efficiency was found to be 89.8%. The overall removal efficiency decreased with high entrance velocities at low inflow sediment concentrations; at high inflow sediment concentrations the effect of entrance velocity was not that critical Empirical equations were developed to predict the sediment removal efficiency of the box at different concentrations and velocities.

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