Skip to Main Content
Frequently Asked Questions
Submit an ETD
Global Search Box
Need Help?
Keyword Search
Participating Institutions
Advanced Search
School Logo
Files
File List
16176.pdf (7.05 MB)
ETD Abstract Container
Abstract Header
Detention-based Green/Gray Infrastructure Framework to Control Combined Sewer Overflows
Author Info
Mancipe Muñoz, Nestor Alonso
ORCID® Identifier
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6708-0290
Permalink:
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1439307033
Abstract Details
Year and Degree
2015, PhD, University of Cincinnati, Engineering and Applied Science: Environmental Engineering.
Abstract
Combined sewer overflows (CSO) are uncontrolled discharges of rainfall-runoff and untreated sewage into nearby streams that occur when the capacity of the combined sewer system (CSS) or the treatment facility is exceeded during heavy rainfall or snowmelt events. Resilient and affordable solutions are needed to control CSO and help manage urban flooding. Typically, gray infrastructure (i.e. treatment facilities, etc.) are proposed to mitigate CSO impacts. A more environmentally friendly approach called green infrastructure (i.e. ponds, rain-gardens, etc.) is being considered to help solve this problem. Individually each approach would achieve a desired CSO control/reduction goal. Interest has grown in using a combination of “green” and “gray” infrastructure because it not only mitigates CSO, but also maximizes social, economic, and environmental benefits for its service communities. The present work demonstrates the technical and economic feasibility of using an innovative decentralized detention-based green/gray infrastructure (DBGI) system to mitigate impacts of CSO in urban communities. A cascading network of DBGI (i.e. short storm-sewers and small detention ponds), strategically placed throughout a sewershed, is studied to intercept and temporarily detain rainfall-runoff during a storm event. During and after a storm, the network of ponds makes constant controlled releases of runoff into the existing CSS. The releases are carefully managed to not exceed the conveyance capacity of the CSS and, hence, to avoid causing a CSO. The proposed framework combines state-of-the-art mathematical modeling complemented with Geographical Information Systems (GIS). The framework has four components: first, a reliable calibration approach for a physically-based semidistributed rainfall-runoff model is presented using the storm water management model (SWMM5). The calibrated SWMM5 is used to simulate both the existing CSS (pre-DBGI) and the DBGI alternative (Post-DBGI) scenarios. Second, an efficient GIS-based algorithm based on terrain analysis is developed and implemented in ArcGIS10 to identify, screen, and size competing DBGI sites. Third, a unique optimal control-operation method is developed for the DBGI system. It is hypothesized that the DBGI’s optimal operation is a “synchronized inhale then exhale strategy” (SITES). Under the SITES, all ponds fill and release in unison so that the instantaneous fraction of total storage occupied by runoff is similar in all ponds at all times. Fourth, a DBGI quasi real-time control-operation strategy (RTC-SITES) is developed and verified with an analogous search approach that uses SITES, quantitative precipitation forecast (QPF), and historical rainfall events. The framework is tested for a study area in Cincinnati, OH as a proof-of-concept of the DBGI alternative. Simulation results indicate that strategic deployment of a network of DBGI operated by RTC-SITES can meet required CSO federal consent decrees in urbanized areas at a much lower cost than a conventional “gray” alternative. These findings are significant not only for the study area, but also for any of the hundreds of metropolitan urban regions in US that are struggling under regulatory decrees to fix CSO problems. This framework provides a promising and useful tool for evaluating the effectiveness, feasibility, and operational control of this approach to control CSO in urbanized areas.
Committee
Steven Buchberger, Ph.D. (Committee Chair)
Ting Lu, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Dominic Boccelli, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Jeffrey Camm, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Makram Suidan, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Pages
131 p.
Subject Headings
Water Resource Management
Keywords
Combined Sewer Overflows
;
Green gray infrastructure
;
Storm water Management
;
Optimal operation
;
Geographical Information Systems
;
quasi real time control operation
Recommended Citations
Refworks
EndNote
RIS
Mendeley
Citations
Mancipe Muñoz, N. A. (2015).
Detention-based Green/Gray Infrastructure Framework to Control Combined Sewer Overflows
[Doctoral dissertation, University of Cincinnati]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1439307033
APA Style (7th edition)
Mancipe Muñoz, Nestor Alonso.
Detention-based Green/Gray Infrastructure Framework to Control Combined Sewer Overflows.
2015. University of Cincinnati, Doctoral dissertation.
OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center
, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1439307033.
MLA Style (8th edition)
Mancipe Muñoz, Nestor Alonso. "Detention-based Green/Gray Infrastructure Framework to Control Combined Sewer Overflows." Doctoral dissertation, University of Cincinnati, 2015. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1439307033
Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)
Abstract Footer
Document number:
ucin1439307033
Download Count:
624
Copyright Info
© 2015, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by University of Cincinnati and OhioLINK.