Project Overview
Introduction
During this course you will be required to undertake a major design project.
In this project you will design the model of the stormwater management system that is located at the northern edge of the campus.
A recorded project presentation is in the link below:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1emq784k3KtgZ8XbdLP8PVa3zOXB8vIkD/view?usp=sharing
Overview
In civil engineering terminology, the rainwater and rainwater run-off occurring when its rains are known as stormwater.
For engineers managing the stormwater, run-off is a very important matter. Water must not be allowed to pool on roads or pathways, and it must not be allowed to soak into the subsoil or foundations and footings around roads, or buildings.
Managing the stormwater usually consists of directing the water away from the a) roads, b) pathways, c) carparks, d) roofs of buildings, and e) semi-permeable grounds; and collecting in temporary storage areas called sumps, and possibly causing the stormwater to be piped to the ocean or estuarine system and released.
Depending upon what the nature of the surroundings areas are like, there may be a large number of sealed roads and footpaths, and other impermeable structures such as buildings covering the ground. Other areas may be semi-permeable; being largely grass, exposed soil, or gardens and bushland. In the semi-permeable areas, the stormwater may tend to seep away.
In our project, we are considering the north-western part of ECU’s Joondalup campus.
This area is managed by a system of two sumps, which capture the water from the north-western side of the campus. One sump is 1200mm higher than the other. The two sumps are connected by a 300mm diameter pipe.
You are to consider the ground which is higher than both the sumps, which includes, and is to the west of Kendrew Crescent. The areas that you should include is shown within the highlighted region on the map shown below. The rising ground continues only part the way to Grand Boulevard on the west, and part of the way to the carpark on the south-west; and part way up towards Teakle Court on the north.
You will need to do a site visit (if you have not done so yet), to determine what sort of ground cover that you are dealing with (i.e. permeable, or impermeable), and to determine where the high points are within the highlighted region, which are the limits of your catchment areas.
Many of us have done a walk around the sump areas, and if you have not yet done so, you should take a walk around here too. You will want to identify the approximate shape and dimensions of the sumps to in order to calculate the volumes of each of them.
MATLAB
This design project will include the development of a fully working MATLAB analysis / simulation.
Groups are NOT being used in this project.
Project Deliverables
- Detailed design of your model.
- How you translated the real world into mathematical form.
- Working MATLAB analysis / simulation.
- Detailed documentation showing:
A. Physical characteristic of the storm-water system:
- Permeability of the soils,
- The types of ground-cover present,
- Non-permeable - e.g. Asphalt Roads or concrete
- Permeable - e.g. Grass or sand
- Geometrical shape and sizes,
- Other factors.
B. Each of the assumptions that have been made.
C, the geographical layout is very important. You must take into account:
- the location and size of trees,
- runoff and catchment areas.
Project Philosophy
The major idea is to be able to translate a physical situation into a mathematical form, and model it using standard engineering software tools; such as MATLAB and others can be used, but are not essential.
What is important is that we can follow your thinking processes, and identify your engineering approach to modelling.
Storm Water Management Areas
The analysis is to be carried out on the Northern end of the Campus; as shown below.
The road view is as follows:
and the second area:
Function of the Management Areas
The purpose of these two storm-water management areas is to remove the storm-water from the roads, paths, buildings and other run-off; and to capture it and hold it to reduce the likelihood of local flooding.
Once the storm-water has been captured in these management areas, it is able to soak away through the permeable grass and soil.
Here is a recent photo of Area 2, after the rains.
The high-water mark can be seen here:
The water soaks away through the grass, and the trees remove water from the sub-soil.
Runoff Model
Take measurements of the sizes using Google Earth / Maps; or even physically measuring it out if you wish.
Determine non-permeable catchment areas.
Determine permeable areas; volume of the management areas.
Calculate likely levels using a related rates model.
Project Documentation
Your project documentation must include the following major components:
- all assumptions
- design of your soil analysis and results
- determination of catchment areas and performance of various surfaces
- Runoff model
- development of the overall model
- calculations
- validation
Design Assumptions
The project documentation will include all the relevant design assumptions.
Design
A detailed design must be provided.
This design shows your methodology and the calculations that you have employed.
Permeability Tests and Soil Analysis
The results of the preliminary permeability tests of your chosen soils are to be provided, along with your analysis.
Soil Analysis
You must present the relevant theory and algorithms employed in your project.
Validation
Your documentation will show the means by which you have validated and tested your algorithm and methodology, and how you have shown your MATLAB simulation to be correct.
It is important that you also include your tests and samples of output.
Software Tools
MATLAB OR Other Suitable Software - e.g. C++ or Excel can be used.
The source code or design \for your working MATLAB / C++, or Excel etc simulation must be included. An explanation of the structure of the program must be provided. If you use Excel, you must ensure that you LABEL your model clearly, and that the formulas are visible in the LABELS
Analysis of your model
Identify and discuss the design decisions that you incorporated into your model.
Your explanations as to why you made the decisions should be quite detailed.
Identify and explain at least three improvements that you could make to your tests, analysis, model; or things that you could do differently, so that it would meet the design criteria more effectively.
This could include a discussion of your approach, problems encountered, what you experienced etc
Dimensions
Measure the size of the areas as accurately as you can using simple manual methods. (Accuracy to +/- 0.25 meter)
Assume that the northern stormwater sump is 1200mm lower than the southern sump.
Assume that a 300mm ID (internal diameter) pipe connects the two sumps.
Assume that the northern sump does not have another drain.
Use trigonometry to get the depths of the sumps, and to calculate their shapes and volume.
Soil Types
Use standard Western Australian soil types.
For your tests, determine what soil that you are using; assume that the sump has the same soil type.
Environment
Determine the relevant environmental factors.
Use information provided from Western Australian sources; e.g. BOM (Bureau of Meteorology).
Validation
Use industry standard calculators, and tables to validate your assumptions and calculations.
They should form part of your report. (Note - they are NOT the report)
Permeability and Porosity are two important concepts when attempting to model stormwater management and runoff.
Here are two videos which address these matters.
Marks Breakdown
Assumptions 1
State all your assumptions.
Provide justifications for each one.
Analysis of the problem 2
Break your problem down into the component parts
Soil analysis 3
Overall Model 3.5
Describe your situation in mathematical terms.
Explain the governing equations and laws.
Develop the overall model in detail.
Show how the component parts interact together.
Runoff model 2
Implementation 4
Implement in mathematical terms.
Full implementation in software.
Testing and Validation 3
Test the completed model.
Show how you have validated the model.
Provide the full test suite.
Conclusions 1.5
How did the model perform?
How well does it represent reality?
What were the problems?
How could it be improved?
Task 2 - Answer questions in the case study given below (Extracted from SAGE Business Cases - Varun Dawar (2018) - Capital Budgeting Decision Analysis. Some contents of the case have been altered to suit the local condition).
(Words Limit 2,500 - excluding statistical data)