TY - JOUR
T1 - Assessment of hydrodynamic separators for storm-water treatment
AU - Wilson, Matthew A.
AU - Mohseni, Omid
AU - Gulliver, John S.
AU - Hozalski, Raymond M.
AU - Stefan, Heinz G.
PY - 2009
Y1 - 2009
N2 - Hydrodynamic separators are proprietary underground devices designed to remove floatable debris (e.g., leaves, trash, oil) and to remove suspended solids from storm-water runoff by sedimentation. They are designed for storm-water treatment in urban areas to meet tight space constraints. Limited data on the suspended solids removal performance of installed devices are available, and existing data are questionable because of the problems associated with assessment by monitoring. The objectives of our research are to: (1) investigate the feasibility and practicality of field testing to assess the performance of hydrodynamic separators as underground storm-water treatment devices; (2) evaluate the effects of sediment size and storm-water discharge on the performance of six devices from different manufacturers; and (3) develop a universal approach for predicting the performance of a device for any given application. In the field tests, a controlled and reproducible synthetic storm event containing sediment of a well defined size distribution and concentration was fed to a precleaned device. The captured sediment was then removed, dried, sieved, and weighed. To assess the performance of the devices, suspended sediment removal efficiency was related to a Péclet number, which accounts for two major processes that control performance: (1) settling of particles; and (2) turbulent diffusion or mixing of particles. After analyzing the data, all devices showed similar behavior, therefore, a three-parameter performance function was proposed for all devices. Performance functions were developed from the result of the field tests and parallel testing of two other full-scale devices in the laboratory. The performance functions can be used to determine the efficiency of the tested devices and to improve the selection and sizing of hydrodynamic separators and the assessment of their overall performance after installation.
AB - Hydrodynamic separators are proprietary underground devices designed to remove floatable debris (e.g., leaves, trash, oil) and to remove suspended solids from storm-water runoff by sedimentation. They are designed for storm-water treatment in urban areas to meet tight space constraints. Limited data on the suspended solids removal performance of installed devices are available, and existing data are questionable because of the problems associated with assessment by monitoring. The objectives of our research are to: (1) investigate the feasibility and practicality of field testing to assess the performance of hydrodynamic separators as underground storm-water treatment devices; (2) evaluate the effects of sediment size and storm-water discharge on the performance of six devices from different manufacturers; and (3) develop a universal approach for predicting the performance of a device for any given application. In the field tests, a controlled and reproducible synthetic storm event containing sediment of a well defined size distribution and concentration was fed to a precleaned device. The captured sediment was then removed, dried, sieved, and weighed. To assess the performance of the devices, suspended sediment removal efficiency was related to a Péclet number, which accounts for two major processes that control performance: (1) settling of particles; and (2) turbulent diffusion or mixing of particles. After analyzing the data, all devices showed similar behavior, therefore, a three-parameter performance function was proposed for all devices. Performance functions were developed from the result of the field tests and parallel testing of two other full-scale devices in the laboratory. The performance functions can be used to determine the efficiency of the tested devices and to improve the selection and sizing of hydrodynamic separators and the assessment of their overall performance after installation.
KW - Best Management Practice
KW - Dimensional analysis
KW - Settling velocity
KW - Stormwater management
KW - Suspended sediment
KW - Turbulent diffusion
KW - Underground structures
KW - Water sampling
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U2 - 10.1061/(ASCE)HY.1943-7900.0000023
DO - 10.1061/(ASCE)HY.1943-7900.0000023
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:65449176760
SN - 0733-9429
VL - 135
SP - 383
EP - 392
JO - Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
JF - Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
IS - 5
ER -