Simulation of storm event flow for pilot runoff treatment wetland

In order to control the contaminants impairment in the urban stormwater, it is important to evaluate the changing patterns of pollutants in stormwater runoff and also the selected removal performance of different treatment approaches. Thus it is necessary to design the standard test platform and compare the performance results of various runoff treatment facilities under similar conditions. A simple storm event inflow was designed to simulate a complex storm event using only a pump and a horizontal cylinder barrel. On November 5, 2011 this design was used to simulate a storm event in a pilot wetland located at the USDA Kika de la Garza Plant Material Center, Kingsville, TX. The results indicated that two-phase straight inflow was changed to right-skewed convex curve after cylinder outflow transformation. And the whole simulation system could be used as a qualified evaluation platform for storm runoff treatment.

► A simple storm event inflow was designed using only a pump and a barrel. ► A simulated storm event was used for the runoff dynamic observation of a pilot wetland. ► This facility can be used to assess the performance of BMPs and LIDs.