CEN405 – Sustainable Drainage Systems

ASSIGNMENT TITLE: Problem Solving Practice (Final)

Aims: To enhance students’ understanding on how the fundamental principles and concepts of Sustainable Drainage Systems are applied in the analysis and solving of some practical problems related to water resources engineering and drainage engineering.

Requirement: Kindly clearly write your student ID on your submission

At the end of this assignment, a student should be able to (Learning Outcomes Assessed: A, B, C,D,E, F):

Recommended Reading: Refer to Lecture Notes/Tutorials on Learning Mall Online

A. On   the  basis   of   firm    understanding    of   advanced    hydraulic    and   hydrological concepts, to predict the frequency and magnitude of extreme storm events for the  design and optimization of urban drainage systems.

B. Assess   the  functionality,   application   and   selection   of  Sustainable  Urban  Drainage Systems (SUDS) and appreciate the significance of water re-usage and utilization.

C. Appreciate  the  impacts  of  flooding,  estimate  flood  risks  and  apply  flood  estimation procedures for flood protection and control.

D. Design permeable pavements and appraise the importance of road drainage.

E. Appraise  the  importance  of  consulting   the  local  and  international  regulations  and directives (Environmental Agencies and Local Authorities).

F. Appreciate   the   significance   of   sustainability   in   water   resources   engineering   and sustainable urban drainage systems.

Note:

For calculation questions (questions 1 and 2):

The values of A, B, and C should be obtained from your own student ID number. For example, if the last three digits of your own student ID number end with 123, then take A as 1, B as 2, and C as 3.

For questions on review and practical ideas (questions 3 and 4):

The review and your practical ideas should be supported by at least three recent journal articles (i.e. journal articles published from 2014 to 2024). For review, you should review the most important points in those journal articles and describe the essence and relevance of the selected journal articles. For practical ideas, kindly note that you can refer to these same journal articles but they are meant to be supporting information and you should be focusing on providing your own in-depth analysis of the scenario and giving practical ideas of solution. As a guide, the total length of the review and your practical ideas can be around 3 pages. The references for the journal articles should be cited as in-text citations therein all your answers and the complete references to be given in APA style at the end of your answer.

Question 1 [25 marks]

a)       The following dataset shows the observed times between rainfall events at a given location, i.e. x = {5.A, 7.B, 10.C, 9.A, 6.B, 8.C, 11.A, 13.B, 9.C, 4.A, 8.B, 9.C, 10.A, 8.B, 5.C, 6.A, 9.B, 12.C, 14.A, 6.B, 8.C, 7.A, 11.B, 10.C, 12.A, 9.B, 10.C, 5.A, 6.B, 8.C, 7.A, 9.B, 11.C, 12.A, 15.B, 11.C, 8.A, 10.B, 9.C, 4.A, 6.B, 5.C, 9.A, 11.B, 12.C, 5.A, 7.B, 10.C, 9.A, 8.B, 5.C, 7.A, 11.B, 12.C} in days. Using the methods of moments and the given data, determine the parameter θ of the probability density function (pdf) f(x) = θcos(x) for 0 ≤ x  ≤ π .         [10 marks]

b)        It has been hypothesized that the observed dataset in (a) follow an exponential distribution f(x) = λe−λx    for x ≥ 0, where the parameter λ = x/1, where ̅(x)  is the average value from the dataset. Perform. a χ2-test to examine the goodness of the fit for a significance level of 10%.   [10 marks]

c)        According to the answer in (a), provide a brief qualitative discussion on the probability density function to determine the flood frequency analysis.   [5 marks]

Question 2 [25 marks]

a)         The record of the annual peak floods of a stream is given as follows: X =  {10A.B, 9B.C, 8A.B, 9B.C, 11A.B, 12B.C, 14A.B, 15B.C, 13A.B, 9B.C, 11A.B, 10B.C, 8A.B, 12B.C, 15A.B, 11B.C, 10A.B, 9B.C, 8A.B, 15B.C, 12A.B, 13B.C, 15A.B, 10B.C, 9A.B, 10B.C, 11A.B, 14B.C, 12A.B, 13B.C, 9A.B., 12B.C} m3/s. The data have been hypothesized to follow a Gumbel distribution. Determine the return period of the event that the annual peak flood on the river exceeds 120 m3/s.   [10 marks]

b)        Using the same dataset in (a), determine the probability of the annual peak flood being less than or equal to 115 m3/s. Also, calculate the probability of this event occurring at least 3 times in the next 4 years.   [10 marks]

c)        According  to  the  answer  in  (a), provide  a brief qualitative discussion on the Gumbel distribution to determine the flood frequency analysis.   [5 marks]

Question 3 [25 marks]

a)         Global warming has resulted in many detrimental environmental implications and one of the  consequences  is  increased  frequency  of  urban  flooding.  The  current  task  is  to investigate the impacts of global warming on urban flooding by using a case study in one country (this country can be any country in the world). You will need to review the recent developments on this issue (e.g. the occurrence of urban flooding due to global warming and  the  deleterious  harms  that  the  global  warming  has  resulted  in  relation  to  urban flooding) and then elucidate your own suggestions of practical ideas on the following aspects: i) How to improve the current design of sustainable urban drainage systems (SUDS) so that it can address the effects of urban flooding as resulted by global warming, and ii) How to develop more effective prediction models in relation to monitoring the phenomenon of global warming so that the flooding impacts can be minimized.   [12 marks]

b)        There are many low impact development (LID) practices which can be adopted in order to address the urban flooding. Among these approaches, permeable pavement is one of the commonly adopted technique and its efficiency has been proven to mitigate the impacts of urban flooding. In an attempt to achieve circular economy, it is noteworthy that utilizing waste tires in permeable pavements is one desirable technique. The current task is to investigate the adoption of permeable pavements which employ waste tires in its design by using a case study in one country (this country can be any country in the world). You will need to review the recent developments on this issue (e.g. the improved characteristics of permeable pavements which utilize waste tire and their performances in mitigating the urban flooding) and then give your own suggestions of practical ideas on the following aspects: i) How to assess the environmental impacts of the permeable pavement which utilize the waste tire, e.g. using life cycle assessment method, and ii) How to evaluate the cost savings associated with the permeable pavement which utilize waste tire, e.g. using life cycle costing method.   [13 marks]

Question 4 [25 marks]

a)         An effective flood management system is highly crucial to protect the human lives and minimize the damage on property. The current task is to investigate the legislations related to flood management system by using a case study in one country (this country can be any country in the world). You will need to review the recent developments on this issue (e.g. the specific rules and regulations being established to deal with the flooding and the major implications of these legislations), and then elucidate your own suggestions of practical ideas on the following aspects: i) How to establish new legislations in order to meet the needs of today’s world, and ii) How to improve the process of response and recovery to better manage the flooding situation.    [12 marks]

b)        Sustainable urban drainage systems (SUDS) has been proven to be effective to minimize the  deleterious  impacts  of  urban   flooding.  In  today’s  globalized  world,  artificial intelligence (AI) has been widely employed in many applications. The current task is to investigate the implementation of AI in SUDS by using a case study in one country (this country can be any country in the world). You will need to review the recent developments on this issue (e.g. the types of AI and the general working principles of the AI) and then elucidate your own suggestions of practical ideas on the following aspects: i) How to decide on an appropriate AI method to be implemented in SUDS, and ii) How to overcome the current limitations associated with the implementation of AI in SUDS.  [13 marks]