The Rational Method and Pervious Concrete
The Rational Method is used by many storm water civil engineers to understand storm water runoff. Frequently it is being invoked to understand the impacts of pervious concrete. Frankly, the Rational Method has no place designing with pervious, and this is what we are going to discuss.
The simplest reason being, the Rational Method is there the allow engineers to size the necessary sewer line appropriate to the runoff on the site. However, when pervious concrete is well designed and installed for most or all of the parking or access areas, there will be no runoff from that area. It is even possible, pending some limitations**, to capture most if not all of the adjacent runoff from impervious roofs or other impervious. That would make the runoff coefficient 0 or even negative. Given that, Q becomes zero, or less then zero. At that point, no drain pipe is needed to carry away the storm water, and the Rational Method is not the appropriate method for quantifying storm water.
This hints at the total shift that is before us - the way we previously understood hardscape and the associated negative externalities (runoff, storm water pollution, heat island effect, aquifer depletion) is turned on its head. Now these previous negative externalities are accounted for and reversed, and we are able to maintain the preferred hard & durable surface with pervious concrete. Pervious concrete allows storm water and pollution to filter in and infiltrate, allowing microbes and soil to be the filter that they are for the rest of nature. Pervious concrete mitigates the heat island effect in 2 ways, having a high solar reflectivity index as well as allowing a water and air exchange between the soil below and air above the pavement.
But given that codes are still being written, and some building and design professionals do not know about pervious concrete and its benefits we must still use the Rational Method. So I propose a stand-in coefficient.
To review the Rational Method for those of you who don't use this equation frequently,
Q = the necessary size of the pipe to capture the runoff being generated by C, I and A.
A = The area whose runoff is being measured.
I = The rate of rainfall in a given time horizon.
C = The coefficient that is determined by the type of ground covering being measured, below you can see one version of the chart referenced.
As you can see in the above chart, [impervious] paved surfaces gave a runoff coefficient of 0.94 for the 5-year storm event. Toward the bottom of this chart, "Lawn" and "Parks/Golf Courses/Cemeteries, 8% impervious" have a runoff coefficient of 0.21.
As far as I know, there is no such coefficient for pervious concrete to be used in the Rational Method. On the one hand, it isn't really necessary, as infiltration hardscapes may make the Rational Method less necessary. Or, perhaps the Rational Method will be adapted to vet and verify successful implementations of LID measures. In the meantime, it seems that a stand-in number is necessary - what if we were to use the "Parks/Golf Courses/Cemeteries, 8% impervious" 0.21 as a reference, and then include the >0.21, as it is less then 0.21, however it is unknown how much less at this point, for research has not yet been completed.
What do you think? Is this a reasonable way to discuss the Rational Method and pervious concrete?
** The limiting factor when dealing with pervious concrete is the subbase soil’s infiltration rate. Given enough area and enough reservoir base, it is possible to infiltrate a serious storm.
To chat directly with the author of this post, you can email me at Lauren@BayAreaPerviousConcrete.com
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Sources: chart http://www.iowadot.gov/design/dmanual/04a-05.pdf
conversation and cocktail napkin - inspiration to post
We install GraniteCrete!
Have you heard about GraniteCrete? GraniteCrete has the natural look and feel of decomposed granite or crushed rock but it holds up with the strength and durability of cementitious material. GraniteCrete is porous, and so has stormwater management and heat island benefits. We recently installed some GraniteCrete in the Golden Gate Bridge visitor area, see pictures above and below. If you have an application of GraniteCrete where you would like a certified installer to give you an estimate, contact us!
4 Layers for Stormwater Management
We at Bay Area Pervious Concrete have come a long way towards developing the Pervious Concrete as a viable Stormwater Management System. Going through this diagram, you can see where the water goes -- one of our most frequently asked questions.
Starting at the bottom-SOIL
We do soil infiltration tests before our jobs so we can understand how fast the water will soak in, underneath the pervious concrete. Once we understand the infiltration rates and soil composition, we can engineer the appropriate depths to excavate for the next layer, the drain rock.
Before we lay the drain rock we sometimes will lay a layer of GEOTECH Fabric, which adds a helpful barrier against some less porous soil types. We determine the need for this during the soil composition and infiltration tests.
Now for the DRAIN ROCK!
Drain rock is laid several to many inches thick, depending on the rain event to be captured, the soil type below, and how much impervious surface is draining into this slab. It is a very specific type of drain rock, not the typical base used under concrete which is impervious - we want to maintain about 40% air space to both allow water to pass through and give it place to "hang out" if the soil has a slow infiltration rate.
Finally the PERVIOUS CONCRETE
The pervious concrete is then laid on top of the drain rock, screeded and rolled into place and covered in plastic, where it will cure for at least a week.
Redwood Avenue - Driveway
The client had flooding in the back and front of the house due to an uneven grade of the lot and excessive roof runoff.
Why Pervious Concrete?
He initially wanted a pervious concrete driveway because of impervious ground cover limitations in his city.
The Solution:
We designed a pervious concrete driveway and side yard that is also the retention pond for all of the roof and yard runoff.The pervious concrete water retention system captures 100% of their runoff from the roof AND the lot. They now have a dry front yard, back yard and they can grill just off the kitchen without puddles!
