Assessment of the relation between atmospheric precipitation and rainwater runoff for various urban surfaces

Abstract

The relation between the diurnal sum of atmospheric precipitation and the diurnal volume of rainwater runoff from four experimental hardened surfaces was the subject of a pilot study conducted within the area of the Departmental Agro- and Hydrometeorology Observatory in Wrocław. The selection and the structure of the experimental surfaces were preceded with an inventory-taking of the coverage of hardened surfaces within a Wrocław housing estate with high-rise multifamily buildings. That estate was the second location, next to the area of the Observatory, at which the study presented here was conducted. The surfaces included in the experiment were roof surfaces P1 and P2 covered with heat-sealable roll roofing, surface APB made of gravel-filled openwork concrete plates, and tarmac surface AS. The pilot study was conducted during the period from April to November, 2014. During that period, depending on the type of experimental surface, from 81 to 87 days with atmospheric precipitation were analysed. The mean values of the rainwater runoff coefficients for the eightmonth period were 0.77, 0.77, 0.33 and 0.67 for surfaces P1, P2, APB and AS, respectively. The range of variability of mean values of the coefficients of rainwater runoff from the experimental surfaces in a month is presented by the following relation: APB > P1 > AS > P2. The study did not reveal any direct effect of the number of rainfall days in a month on the value of the coefficient of determination describing the correlation between the diurnal sums of precipitation and the diurnal volumes of rainwater runoff.

Keywords

• imperviousness
• precipitation
• rainwater runoff coefficients
• surface coverage