College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

College of Engineering

ValPark Drainage Project

Jonathan Guthrie
Brandon Thomas
Greg Turner

March 12, 2010

ValPark Drainage Project March 12, 2010
Guthrie, Thomas, Turner BAE 472 - Irrigation and Drainage

Executive Summary
The ValPark Lot #3 experiences flooding after storm events and becomes muddy and difficult to
travel. The 2 acre parking area is a well used lot that is used to generate income for the client. The
problem was to remove the standing water and muddy conditions as well as reduce the sediment
loss that runs off of the lot and into Rocky Branch stream. Currently the discharge contains a high
amount of sediment and soil loss is estimated at 43.9 Mg/yr. The design criterion were to be able to
drain a 10-yr, 24-hr storm event without having any flooding and muddy conditions, lose no more
than 5% of available parking, and reduce soil loss while keeping maintenance requirements to a
minimum. Cost was an issue as well as the lot is a for-profit venture. The project looked at various
solutions and a re-grading plan was chosen that uniformly distributed the slope so that the flood
prone area had adequate slope for drainage. The re-grading plan also utilized existing subsurface
drains that were poorly placed. The proposed design meets the criteria for parking loss by losing
only 5% of available parking and estimated soil loss is reduced to 30.6 Mg/yr.

Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering i NC STATE UNIVERSITY

ValPark Drainage Project March 12, 2010
Guthrie, Thomas, Turner BAE 472 - Irrigation and Drainage

Table of Contents

Executive Summary ............................................................................................................................................ i

Table of Contents .............................................................................................................................................. ii
Problem Statement ............................................................................................................................................ 1
Objectives & Constraints .................................................................................................................................. 2
Solution Approaches ......................................................................................................................................... 2
Analysis and Design Specifications ................................................................................................................. 3
Grading and Site Layout Design............................................................................................................. 3
Parking Space Marker Design ................................................................................................................. 4
Cost Statement ................................................................................................................................................... 5
Operation & Maintenance Instructions .......................................................................................................... 6
Critical Evaluation ............................................................................................................................................. 6
Bibliography ........................................................................................................................................................ 8
Billing Log ........................................................................................................................................................... 9
Appendices........................................................................................................................................................10
I.Stormwater Runoff and Sewer Calculations.....................................................................................10
II. Soil Loss Calculations .......................................................................................................................12
III. Plan Drawings ..................................................................................................................................13

Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering ii NC STATE UNIVERSITY

Problem Statement
ValkPark is a rental parking business that leases spaces to students at N.C. State University. It is
located off of Hillsborough Street in Raleigh, North Carolina. The area of concern is a 2-acre lot
adjacent to N.C. State’s Dan Allen Parking Deck. As shown in Figures 1 and 2,, Lot #3 slopes from
west to east at a five percent average grade. After a storm event water ponds at the bottom of the
sloping lot closest to the Dan Allen Parking Deck. Also, due to lack of vegetation and the frequency
of vehicles traveling on the lot, sediment is transported easily. A small stream is located at the
southern most point of the property th that drains to Rocky Branch. The
he parking lot has existing
subsurface drainage that is poorly placed and does not drain much of the water.

Lot #3

Dan Allen Deck

Stream

Figure 1: ValP
ValPark site map (Source: Wake County GIS).
ValPark Drainage Project March 12, 2010
Guthrie, Thomas, Turner BAE 472 - Irrigation and Drainage

Figure 2: ValPark bird's eye view (Source: 2010 Microsoft Corporation).

Objectives & Constraints

The main objective is to implement a design that will remove stormwater from the lot as quickly and
efficiently as possible. This is critical to the parking lot being used after rain events without vehicles
becoming soiled. The design should be as cost efficient and low-maintenance as possible and
sediment loss from the lot should be minimized. Additionally, the lot is currently laid out to provide
240 spaces and the design should minimize the number of spaces lost. The project constraints are
summarized below:

1. Completely drain parking lot after a 10-year, 24-hour storm event within the next 24 hours.
2. Have a reduction in total available parking spots less than five percent.
3. The design should require little to no maintenance.
4. Reduce annual soil loss due to erosion.

Solution Approaches
The first possible solution is to move the parking clusters parallel to the slope of the lot and
install s small ditch along the center of each cluster. These ditches will capture most of the water
flowing downhill, with the exception being flow down traffic lanes. This will break the current slope
length into four shorter lengths. These shorter slope lengths will reduce the amount of sediment loss
due to their effect of limiting flow velocity. These ditches will be piped under the main traffic lane of

Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering 2 NC STATE UNIVERSITY

ValPark Drainage Project March 12, 2010
Guthrie, Thomas, Turner BAE 472 - Irrigation and Drainage

the lot to a drainage main that will run along the southern-most edge of the lot. The major
disadvantage of this design is that the ditches and ditch-to-main pipes will be a maintenance issue
due to clogging.

The other possible solution is to re-grade the entire lot in a way that will encourage sheet
flow of water towards the three existing surface drains in the eastern end of the lot. This approach
will require a significant portion of earth to be removed at the west end of the lot for a cut/fill ratio
of 1.3 to be achieved. In addition to re-grading, the railroad ties that are currently used as parking
pace markers will be replaced with makers fashioned from steel angle. This will help fix the problem
of concentrated flow between the ties, which contributes to sediment loss. As in the other possible
solution, the parking clusters will be positioned parallel to the slope of the lot. This will position
vehicles perpendicular to the slope, which will reduce the cross-sectional area of vehicle tires to the
flow path. This will reduce disruption to sheet flow of water as much as possible. This is the best
approach due primarily to lower maintenance.

Analysis and Design Specifications

Grading and Site Layout Design

The main tool used in designing a grading plan for the proposed site was AutoCad Civil 3D
2009. An existing topographic map and raster images of the surrounding area were obtained from
the NCSU Libraries GIS data site (www.lib.ncsu.edu/gis). See Appendix III for the Existing
Conditions Layout Sheet.

The proposed design allows for a more uniformly distributed stormwater runoff. A 3:1
slope is specified at the entrance of the parking lot to increase cut volumes and to permit a smoother
slope in the parking area. To avoid the installation of new stormwater structures, the proposed
design directs flow to the existing inlets. The design utilizes a 1.3 cut-fill ratio to allow for
settlement after construction as recommended by SWCE/e5, totaling the earthwork volume at
approximately 10,200 cubic yards. See Appendix III for the Proposed Grading Plan.

In designing the layout, the main objective was to maintain as many parking spaces as
possible while achieving successful drainage of the site. To prevent parked vehicles from impeding
flow during a storm event, parking spaces were aligned perpendicular to the contours (See Appendix
III for the Proposed Layout). In the proposed design allocates for 227 parking spaces, which is
95% of the original 240 spaces, thus meeting the projects design objective. Also, the existing
railroad ties being used for space designation obstructed runoff to the inlets. The design specifies a
new parking space marker as described in the next section.

In order to use the existing drainage network, stormwater calculations were made to
determine if the system could handle a 10-year, 24-hour storm event. The peak flow of the 2-acre
site for the design storm was 0.07 m3/s calculated by using the NRCS-TR55 Method for Estimating
Peak Runoff Rate (See Appendix I for actual calculations). Assuming 24” RCP at a 0.1% grade, the
capacity of the current system was estimated at 0.22 m3/s. This was determined using a
combination of the Manning’s and Continuity Equations (See Appendix I for actual calculations).
Therefore, the current capacity is easily capable of carrying large storm events.

Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering 3 NC STATE UNIVERSITY

ValPark Drainage Project March 12, 2010
Guthrie, Thomas, Turner BAE 472 - Irrigation and Drainage

Another design objective was to reduce the amount of sediment lost annually due to erosion.
Following the RUSLE model for estimating sediment transport, the current and proposed sediment
losses were calculated. An overall reduction of 30% was achieved with the proposed design; see
Appendix II for detailed calculations. Table 1 shows the estimated annual soil loss for both
conditions

Table 1: Estimated Annual Soil Loss for ValPark Lot #3

Annual Soil Loss

Plan
(Mg/yr)
Existing 44
Proposed 31
Reduction 30% .

Parking Space Marker Design

The parking space markers will be made from 3” x 3” x 3/16” steel angle and will be 9 feet long,
extend 1 foot above ground level, and extend 1.5 feet below the surface. The markers will not be
anchored with concrete as this would hinder periodic removal for surface maintenance. As stated
above, the markers have a low height and deep anchor depth to minimize possible bending
moments on the structures; this is necessary for the design because vehicles will inevitably drive over
or otherwise apply forces to the structures. The main units, one of which is pictured in Figure 3
below, will be constructed with 2 sections of bent angle iron with a cross-member welded between
them. There will be 38 of the pictured units installed in the center parking area of the lot, and each
unit will be spaced 8.5 feet apart. Separate 9-foot cross-members of the same size steel angle will be
bolted between each main unit to create a continuous barrier along the entire length of each parking
cluster. 3/8” – 16 x 1” hex head coarse bolts and matching nuts will be used for this task. This
method of joining markers is necessary to allow for portability and land variations. Additionally, this
design minimizes material and manufacturing costs. Since ValPark assigns numbers to every parking
space, a space number can be stenciled onto each side of the cross-members. If desired, every part
may be painted to resist corrosion. Parking along the perimeter of the lot can utilize the existing
railroad ties to demarcate spacing.

Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering 4 NC STATE UNIVERSITY

ValPark Drainage Project March 12, 2010
Guthrie, Thomas, Turner BAE 472 - Irrigation and Drainage

Above-ground Space number can be stenciled here

height of 1 foot

1 of 4 bolt holes for

mounting cross-members

Cross-member

Below-ground depth of 1.5

feet

Figure 3: Parking space marker main unit.

Cost Statement
Taking into account engineering design, labor, parking space marker construction and installation
the total cost for the project was estimated at slightly above $57,000. See Table 2 below for an
itemized cost estimate.
Table 2: Itemized cost statement.

Item Description Quantity Unit Cost (USD) Extended Cost (USD)

Engineering Design (per hour) 70 100.00 7000
Earthwork (per cubic yard) 10200 4.50 45900
Metal Work (per hour) 38 15.00 570
Marker Installation (per hour) 38 12.00 456
3" X 3" X 3/16" Steel Angle (per 18' length) 63 50.00 3150.00
3/8" - 16 X 1" Hex Head Bolt Coarse (per bolt) 292 0.27 78.84
3/8" - 16 Lock Nut Coarse (per nut) 292 0.17 49.64
Total Cost (USD): 57076.00

Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering 5 NC STATE UNIVERSITY

ValPark Drainage Project March 12, 2010
Guthrie, Thomas, Turner BAE 472 - Irrigation and Drainage

Operation & Maintenance Instructions

The grading plan is designed to keep maintenance at a minimum but some periodic
maintenance will be required. Annual grading of the gravel should be performed each spring to
minimize erosion and prevent flooding problems from returning. This can be performed in the time
period between the end of the spring semester and the first summer session. The task should take
less than a day and is important to prevent future problems. A chain drag harrow will be pulled
upslope to smooth and redistribute gravel and soil. A drag harrow can be purchased from agriculture
or landscaping supply stores and models are available that can be pulled behind a truck. The use of a
blade to redistribute the gravel may be required on a less frequent basis.

Another area of the design that requires maintenance is the drain system. The lot is graded to
move water towards the drains, thus any trash and debris that is easily transported will be directed
towards the drains and can collect on the grates or in the basin which can reduce the draining ability
and cause flooding.

Figure 4: Drop Inlet before re-grading

A weekly schedule is recommended to have landscapers or maintenance personnel remove
trash and debris from the grates. At a minimum, monthly maintenance should be performed. Some
trash can slip through the grates and collect in the basin, thus it is important to check under the
grates and remove any trash that has collected in the basin to prevent clogging of the drain line.

Periodically, the parking space markers should be checked to make sure they have not
become loose; if they have they can simply be re-set in their holes and new dirt can be compacted
around them.

Critical Evaluation
The initial approaches addressed the problem incorrectly. Initially the goal was to reduce
slope lengths, essentially establishing terraces to move water to the edge of the property. The
assumption was that the lot sloped towards the south-eastern most corner. However, after looking
at contour data it was determined that the lot slopes more to the north. A reasonable amount of
time was spent working with the incorrect assumption that water moves towards the south-west and

Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering 6 NC STATE UNIVERSITY

ValPark Drainage Project March 12, 2010
Guthrie, Thomas, Turner BAE 472 - Irrigation and Drainage

should be intercepted and redirected with the railroad tie parking space markers. After discussion
with Dr. Huffman, it was realized that this design would have concentrated flow in between ties,
which would cause sediment loss. More attention was then given to the existing drainage structures
and the main objective evolved to utilize these structures to minimize costs. The design succeeds at
utilizing the existing drains by grading towards them. The design for the steel space markers allows
water to sheet flow, which will minimize sedimentation. However, the cost of the markers is
significant.

One design constraint that was difficult to meet was the conservation of parking spaces.
With the specified design there is a five percent reduction in the number of parking spaces, which
meets the specified constraint. The intention of the design was to keep costs minimal while
achieving the desired results; paving the lot would be an easy solution but would be cost prohibitive.
The stated cost of the project is significant but still lower than the cost of paving. Paving would
require less maintenance but the initial cost would be much higher.

Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering 7 NC STATE UNIVERSITY

ValPark Drainage Project March 12, 2010
Guthrie, Thomas, Turner BAE 472 - Irrigation and Drainage

Bibliography
Midwest Steel Supply Online Store. Midwest Steel Supply Co., 4 Mar. 2010. Web. 4 Mar. 2010.
<http://www.midweststeelsupply.com/store/>.

NutsandBolts.com. Northeast Fasteners Co., Inc., 4 Mar. 2010. Web. 4 Mar. 2010.
<http://www.nutsandbolts.com/>.

EPA - Stormwater Menu of BMPs. US Environmental Protection Agency, 24 May 2006. Web. 4 Mar.
2010. <http://cfpub.epa.gov/npdes/stormwater/menuofbmps/index.cfm>.

Fangmeier, Delmar D., William J. Elliot, Stephen R. Workman, Rodney L. Huffman, and Glenn O.
Schwab. Soil and Water Conservation Engineering. Clifton Park, NY: Thompson Delmar Learning,
2006. Print.

Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering 8 NC STATE UNIVERSITY

ValPark Drainage Project March 12, 2010
Guthrie, Thomas, Turner BAE 472 - Irrigation and Drainage

Billing Log

Date Task Man-Hours

1/13/2010 Research for Topic Statement 6
1/18/2010 Site visit 2
1/22/2010 Site visit 2
1/25/2010 Site visit 2
2/5/2010 Project planning/ Approaches 9
2/24/2010 ArcMap analysis 6
2/26/2010 ArcMap analysis 2
2/26/2010 Research 4
2/28/2010 AutoCAD analysis 4
3/2/2010 AutoCAD analysis 4
3/3/2010 AutoCAD analysis 2
3/5/2010 AutoCAD analysis 2
3/5/2010 Research 4
3/9/2010 Research/ Analysis/ Report 3
3/10/2010 AutoCAD/ Research/ Report 9
3/11/2010 Analysis/ Report 9
Billable Hours: 70

Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering 9 NC STATE UNIVERSITY

ValPark Drainage Project March 12, 2010
Guthrie, Thomas, Turner BAE 472 - Irrigation and Drainage

Appendices
I. Stormwater Runoff and Sewer Calculations

Check existing drains by comparing runoff calculations using SCS-TR55 Method

Precipitation Frequency Estimates

For a 10yr- 24hr storm the precipitation depth is 128mm
For peak flow:
q = q u AQFp
where,
q = peak runoff rate (m3 /s)
q u = unit peak flow rate (m3 /s per ha/mm of RO)
A = watershed area (ha)
Q = Runoff depth from Step 2 (mm)
Fp = pond and swamp factor

As there are no ponds or swamps the pond factor is 1. The unit peak flow is found with the
following equation:

Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering 10 NC STATE UNIVERSITY

ValPark Drainage Project March 12, 2010
Guthrie, Thomas, Turner BAE 472 - Irrigation and Drainage

C1 + C 2 log(Tc ) Ia/P C0 C1 C2
q u = 10 Co − 3.36609 ⋅ Tc 0.1 2.5532 -0.6151 -0.164
where, 0.3 2.4653 -0.6226 -0.1166
0.35 2.419 -0.6159 -0.0882
C o , C1 , C 2 are coefficients found in the table
0.4 2.3641 -0.5986 -0.0562
Tc = Time of concentration (hours) 0.45 2.2924 -0.5701 -0.0228
0.5 2.2028 -0.516 -0.0126

And
  1000  
0.7

 − 9  
0.8   CN  
Tc = L
 4407(S g ) 0.5 
 
 
where,
L = slope length (m)
Sg = Average land slope (m/m)
CN = Curve Number

The drainage area is 0.809 ha, the slope length to the drains is 71m. For a gravel parking lot with soil
group B the curve number is 85. The Tc is found to be 4.5 min, which gives a qu of 0.001 m3/s per
ha/mm. With the storm depth of mm, the peak flow is found to be 0.07 m3/s. To determine if the
drains are adequate compare to the capacity of the drains.

The existing drains use a 24” RCP main with
= 0.012 to move water, so:

 = 610
Π

= (.610) = 0.292m
4
 = 2πr = πD = 1.916m
So using the Manning equation

1 0.292  
= ∗  ∗ (0.001) = 0.75 /
. 012 1.916
and
=  ∗
= 0.75 ⁄ ∗ 0.292  = 0.22  ⁄

Since this is greater than the peak flow determined from the SCS-TR55 method the drains are
adequate.

Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering 11 NC STATE UNIVERSITY

ValPark Drainage Project March 12, 2010
Guthrie, Thomas, Turner BAE 472 - Irrigation and Drainage

II. Soil Loss Calculations

In order to estimate the soil loss for the existing and proposed sites, the RUSLE equations shown
below was used.

A=RKLSCP
A = average annual soil loss (Mg/ha)
R = rainfall and runoff erosivity index for geographic location
K = soil erodibility factor
L = slope length factor
S = slope steepness factor
C = cover management factor
P = conservation practice factor

For Raleigh the estimated R-factor is 4200 according to Figure 7-3 in SWCE/5e. The K-factor for
Cecil soil found on the site is 0.033. The L factor is based on the slope length, field slope angle, and
a dimensionless component, b. Equations are shown below.

θ = tan −1 ( s )
where,
θ = field slope angle
s = slope steepness
sin θ
b=
sin θ + 0.269(sin θ ) 0.8 + 0.05
where,
b = dimensionless exponent
b
 l 
L= 
 22 
where,
L = slope length factor
l = slope length

The S-Factor equation is dependent on the actual field slope and slope length. For a slope less than
9 percent and greater than 4 meters long, the following equation was used:

S = 10.8 sin θ + .03

According to Table 7-2 in SWCE/5e, an appropriate C-Factor for the Valpark Project is 0.45. This
value corresponds to an unpaved road in poor condition. The P-Factor is considered to be 1.0 since
no conservation practices were considered.

Using the above equations an average annual soil loss (A) was estimated for both the existing and
proposed conditions. These values were then multiplied by the site, 0.809 hectares to obtain the

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ValPark Drainage Project March 12, 2010
Guthrie, Thomas, Turner BAE 472 - Irrigation and Drainage

annual soil loss for each condition. Changes in the proposed site showed an annual soil loss
reduction of approximately 30%. The table below shows a summary of the input parameters to
arrive at this solution.

l (m) Annual Soil

Plan s θ (deg) θ (rads) b R K L S C P A (Mg/ha/yr)
Loss (Mg/yr)
Existing 0.048 2.75 0.05 0.394 71 4200 0.033 1.587 0.548 0.45 1.0 54.2 43.9
Proposed 0.035 2.00 0.03 0.338 71 4200 0.033 1.487 0.408 0.45 1.0 37.8 30.6

III. Plan Drawings

See attached.

Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering 13 NC STATE UNIVERSITY