Technical note on drainage systems: design of pipes and detention facilities for rainwater

This technical note will present simple but widely used methods for the design of drainage systems. The note will primarily deal with surface water (rainwater) which on a satisfactorily way should be transport into the drainage system. Traditional two types of sewer systems exist: A combined system, where rainwater and sewage is transported in the same pipe, and a separate system where the two types of water are transported in individual pipe. This note will only focus on the separate rain/stormwater system, however, if domestic sewage should be included in the dimensioning procedure, it’s not major different than described below - just remember to include this contribution for combined systems where the surface water (rain) and sewage are carried in the same pipes in the system and change some of the parameters for failure allowance (this will be elaborated further later on).

The technical note is divided into four main topics: First, a short review of the precipitation in Denmark as well as how historical (actual) rainfall data can be used advantageously to those simple design methods, then how pipelines and reservoirs can be dimensioned and finally how safety in the design can implemented.

The document is only to be used in education, since newer (but smaller) changes to some of the statistical parameters are not implemented in this.