Journal - October 2011

Printed by Karunaratne & Sons (Pvt) Ltd, Sri Lanka.
Vol. XXXXIV, No. 04, October 2011

ENGINEER

JOURNAL OF THE INSTITUTION OF ENGINEERS, SRI LANKA

EDITORIAL BOARD

Eng. (Prof.) A. K. W. Jayawardane
Eng. Priyal De Silva
Eng. W. T. R. De Silva
Eng. (Prof.) K. P. P. Pathirana - Editor Transactions
Eng. (Prof.) T. M. Pallewatta - Editor ENGINEER
Eng. (Dr.) D. A. R. Dolage
Eng. (Miss.) Arundathi Wimalasuriya
Eng. M. L. Weerasinghe - Editor SLEN
Eng. (Dr.) K. S. Wanniarachchi
Eng. (Prof.) S. S. L. Hettiarachchi

The Institution of Engineers, Sri Lanka
120/15, Wijerama Mawatha,
Colombo - 00700
Sri Lanka.

Telephone: 94-11-2698426, 2685490, 2699210
Fax: 94-11-2699202
E-mail: iesl@slt.lk
E-mail (Publications): ed@sltnet.lk
Website: http://www.iesl.lk

COVER PAGE

Colombo Port Expansion Project
Expansion of the Colombo port is one of the mega projects
undertaken by the country at an estimated cost of Rs. 36
billion, funded by the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) &
Asian Development Bank (ADB). The expansion will
extend the port towards the sea surrounded by a 6.83 km
long breakwater. Three terminals each with a length of 1.2
km, incorporating three berths apiece are to be formed
surrounding a 18 m deep inner harbour basin of 260 Ha.
Including the 20 m deep and 570 m wide access channel,
total dredging volume of this landmark project would be
15.5 million cum.

Courtesy of:
Sri Lanka Ports Authority
CONTENTS
Vol.: XXXXIV, No. 04, October 2011
ISSN 1800-1122

From the Editor ...

SECTION I

Development of Guidelines for Low Volume
Concrete Road Construction in Sri Lanka
by : Eng. (Dr.) W. K. Mampearachchi and
Eng. N. A. A. Priyantha

Validity of Reversible Flow Lanes between
Kandy Road Flyover and New Kelani Bridge
Roundabout along A01 to accommodate Peak
Traffic Flows
by : Eng. (Prof.) K. S. Weerasekera

Effectiveness of Traffic Forecasting on
Pavement Designs for Sri Lankan Roads
by : Eng. (Dr.) W. K. Mampearachchi and
Eng. P. H. Gunasinghe

SECTION II

Comparison of Rational Formula
Alternatives for Streamflow Generation for
Small Ungauged Catchments
by : W M D Wijesinghe and
Eng. (Prof.) N. T.S. Wijesekera

Monitoring of Total Suspended Particles &
Toxic Gasses in Stationary Combustion
Systems
by : Eng. K. T. Jayasinghe

Design of a Wide Input Range DC-DC
Converter Suitable for Lead-Acid Battery
Charging
by: Eng. M. W. D. R. Nayanasiri and Eng.
(Prof.) J. A. K. S. Jayasinghe, Eng. B. S.
Samarasiri

Stormwater Management Modelling for an
Ungauged Watershed in Matara Municipality
by : Ms.H. M. D. Harshani and
Eng. (Prof.) N. T. S. Wijesekera

The statements made or opinions expressed in the
Engineer do not necessarily reflect the views of the
Council or a Committee of the Institution of
Engineers Sri Lanka, unless expressly stated.

Notes:
ENGINEER, established in 1973, is a Quarterly
Journal, published in the months of January,
April, July & October of the year.
All published articles have been refereed in
anonymity by at least two subject specialists.
Section I contains articles based on Engineering
Research while Section II contains articles of
Professional Interest.
1
11
17
29
37
47
55
III
III
FROM THE EDITOR..

Colombo, before becoming the capital and then the financial capital of Sri Lanka was
well known throughout most part of our long history as a port, Kolomthota. Natural
setting and geographical considerations would have prompted our ancestors in selecting
this location for the said purpose. Today, Colombo is an internationally known and
highly trafficked port, strategically located in close proximity to major economic sea
routes.

Development and expansion of the Colombo port therefore would be an imperative for
the future economic development of Sri Lanka, if no other port of that stature is
available to the country. With the commissioning of the vast Hambanthota port, which
is situated even more closely to international sea routes, it may seem superfluous to
expand Colombo port at such a trouble and cost. However, as timing is of essence in the
economic race, making Colombo port with expansions fully functional, targeted for
completion in April 2012 could be the expeditious path to follow.

Eng. (Prof.) T. M. Pallewatta, Int. PEng (SL), C. Eng, FIE(SL), FIAE(SL)
Editor, ENGINEER, Journal of The Institution of Engineers.
III
III
FROM THE EDITOR..

Colombo, before becoming the capital and then the financial capital of Sri Lanka was
well known throughout most part of our long history as a port, Kolomthota. Natural
setting and geographical considerations would have prompted our ancestors in selecting
this location for the said purpose. Today, Colombo is an internationally known and
highly trafficked port, strategically located in close proximity to major economic sea
routes.

Development and expansion of the Colombo port therefore would be an imperative for
the future economic development of Sri Lanka, if no other port of that stature is
available to the country. With the commissioning of the vast Hambanthota port, which
is situated even more closely to international sea routes, it may seem superfluous to
expand Colombo port at such a trouble and cost. However, as timing is of essence in the
economic race, making Colombo port with expansions fully functional, targeted for
completion in April 2012 could be the expeditious path to follow.

Eng. (Prof.) T. M. Pallewatta, Int. PEng (SL), C. Eng, FIE(SL), FIAE(SL)
Editor, ENGINEER, Journal of The Institution of Engineers.
section i
1
ENGINEER
ENGINEER - Vol. XXXXIV, No. 04, pp. [1-9], 2011
1 ENGINEER

Development of Guidelines for Low Volume Concrete
Road Construction in Sri Lanka

W. K. Mampearachchi and N. A. A. Priyantha

Abstract: The purpose of the study was to develop guidelines for construction of low volume
concrete roads in Sri Lanka. A survey was carried out to study current concrete road construction
practices and knowledge of the contractors involved in concrete road construction. Survey results
show that good practices have not been adopted in low volume road construction in Sri Lanka. The
authors have introduced best practices which can be easily adopted by the local road construction
industry.
Incorrect joints construction was observed in concrete roads during the site visit and the Authors have
introduced a new device for contraction joint construction. A modification to the available method
was proposed to measure surface undulation on local concrete pavements and allowable undulation
was determined through field investigation. A comparison of various kinds of concrete producing and
curing methods and their performance were studied. The authors have evaluated the effectiveness of
rebound hammer method which has been used for quality control by some consultants. Rebound
hammer reading was compared with compressive strength which was found out from core cutter
samples. Double beam vibrator with inbuilt camber was introduced to consolidate and form the
camber of the surface layer.
Check lists for subgrade /subbase, shoulder, formwork and concrete placing and finishing have been
introduced to address weakness and enhance the quality of the pavement construction. Quality and
Cost control techniques in the field of low volume concrete road construction in Sri Lanka are also
described. Further, the proposed guideline describes the most appropriate methods for preparation of
subgrade, subbase and shoulder, and mixing, placing and finishing of concrete.

1. Introduction

Concrete has been used for road construction
at special locations in the past in Sri Lanka.
One of the oldest roads is Chaitya road
(marine drive) at Colombo port which used
pre tensioned, post tensioned and
conventional concrete [5]. Concrete paving has
been widely used for low volume roads in Sri
Lanka since 2007 as the government allocated
funding for local government agencies to
construct concrete roads. Low volume roads
are normally considered as roads with
relatively low traffic volume, an Average Daily
Traffic (ADT) of less than 400 vehicles per day.
These roads are the tertiary links to the road
network and provide access to land and
properties
Concrete surfacing is considered as a cost
effective road construction technique for low
volume roads since concrete roads have less
maintenance cost. Currently, few roads
managed by the Road Development Authority
(RDA), have been constructed using concrete.
2. Cost Effectiveness of Concrete
Roads
Past research and findings reveal that concrete
has added advantages than the asphalt
pavements. Some of the early findings have
shown that concrete has been a cost effective
solution.
Life Cycle Cost Analysis (LCCA)

is a forward-
looking decision framework that helps assess
Eng (Dr.) W. K. Mampearachchi, B.Sc. Eng. (Hons)
(Moratuwa), MSCE(south Florida), PhD(Florida), CMILT
(UK)., MIE(Sri Lanka), Senior Lecturer, Department of
Civil Engineering, University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka.
Eng. N. A. A. Priyantha, B.Sc Eng. (Moratuwa),
M.Eng(Highway and Traffic, Moratuwa), MIE(Sri Lanka),
Site Engineer, Kumagai Gumi Company, STDP.
enGineeR - Vol. XXXXiV, no. 04, pp, [1-9], 2011
the institution of engineers, sri Lanka
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the lifetime costs of a roadway, rather than
merely considering the initial construction
costs. When LCCA is applied, concrete
pavement is, in many cases, less expensive
than an asphalt surface of equivalent design
[1].

Concrete highways have an excellent track
record as a cost-effective investment in the
United States. Rigid concrete pavement
outperforms flexible asphalt pavement impact
on the environment. Nearly 30 percent of U.S.
interstate highways are built with concrete
[11].

Data from the American Concrete Pavement
Association confirms that American states are
truly committed to building concrete highways
and create competition between the concrete
and asphalt paving industries resulting in
lower unit costs for both concrete and asphalt
highways [8]. This results in more roads being
paved for the same cost.
Extensive studies by the National Research
Council of Canada[12]

confirm previous
findings of fuel efficiency of vehicles on
concrete roads [13]

showing that fully loaded
tractor-trailers consume less fuel traveling on
concrete pavements than on asphalt
pavements over a wide temperature range.
3. Problem Statement

ICTAD Standard Specifications for
Construction and Maintenance of Roads and
Bridges Sri Lanka [9, 10] specify some
guidelines for concrete road construction.
However, most of the details in the
specification are related to concrete pavements
which are supposed to be constructed using
pavers. Still, we have not used pavers for
concrete road construction in Sri Lanka and it
would not be feasible for low volume roads
due to poor road alignments. In the literature
review, the Authors have not found any
guidelines for low volume concrete road
construction.
We have identified the following major issues
in the questionnaire survey. Neither pavement
thickness nor compressive strength is
measured before payments are released to
contractors. One of the qualitative parameters
of a concrete pavement is roughness.
Roughness or surface undulations are
measured by standard straight edge and it
should be modified to measure surface
undulation of local concrete roads. Full depth
joints have been seen in local roads and no
load transfer between panels. Ineffective
curing methods have been used for curing
concrete. Concrete transit trucks have been
used for concrete mixing. Concrete has not
been compacted in certain projects.
The study is focused on development of
guidelines for construction of shoulders,
subbase, formwork and concrete surfacing
based on the condition survey on newly
constructed low volume roads in the rural
sector.

4. Concrete Road Condition
Survey
Distressed locations and wrong construction
practices have been observed during the site
visits.. A survey was done on 24 roads which
are located in the Southern Province, to collect
concrete road condition data (post
construction) and the Authors met the
contractors and stakeholders of the surveyed
roads to gather their knowledge and
experience on concrete road construction. The
Authors made a few site visits to concrete road
construction sites to observe construction
practices.
According to the survey, contraction joint
spacing is less than 5m in 45% of the roads and
these joints are not straight in 41% of the roads.
Wooden planks have been used to provide
contraction joint in 45% of the roads and these
have not been removed in 98% of such roads.
According to the survey results, no camber has
been provided in 92% of the roads. Curing
had been done on 70% of the roads while
curing material had been provided for only 4%
of the roads. According to the specifications,
instructions had been given to provide a
separation membrane between the concrete
layer and the sub-base layer, but according to
the survey, polythene sheets had been used as
a separation membrane only in 25% of the
roads.

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3 ENGINEER
5. Pavement Strength and
Thickness

Three concrete core samples were taken from
roads as shown in Table 01, using a core cutter
machine, and the specified mix proportion of
the concrete was 1:2:4 (cement : sand :
aggregate) . Thickness and strength of the
samples are shown in Table 01. Design
strength of 1:2:4 concrete is 15N/mm
2
and
according to Table 01 specified design strength
was achieved only at Wadihitiniwasa road.
Specified pavement thickness was 150 mm and
that has not been maintained even in a single
case.
Core samples were tested from sites where
concrete mixing had been done by concrete
transit trucks. It has been observed, during site
visits that the concrete discharged from transit
trucks was not properly mixed as transit trucks
are designed for concrete transportation only.
Arrangement of blades inside the rotating
drum of a concrete transit truck and a concrete
mixer was studied. Visual observations have
also proved that concrete transit trucks are not
suitable for mixing concrete. Furthermore,
rebound hammer tests were also carried out on
some roads. In addition to that, a few rebound
hammer tests were carried out on concrete
roads which have been constructed using
concrete mixers. Standard deviation of
pavement strength was calculated in both
cases and a comparatively high standard
deviation on roads constructed by using
concrete transit was not trucks. All these facts
prove that concrete transit trucks are not
suitable for mixing concrete.
The paving thickness was less than that
specified. The core sample which satisfied the
strength requirement has the lowest thickness.
It was found that the payment was released
based on the hammer reading and the strength
was compensated by the thickness to get
approval from the authorities.

Table 1 - Core sample strength.
No Location
Thickness

Strength
N/mm
2

01
Beligaswatta
Kohilawala Para
140mm 9.96
02
Wadihitiniwasa
Para, Beliatta
95mm 16.45
03
Dewana Piwisum
Para, Ihalabeligalla
140mm 10.76

Figure 1- Concrete core samples

Rebound hammer can be used to measure
surface hardness of concrete pavements where
surface hardness correlates with strength of
the pavement. However, surface hardness
depends on various factors such as moisture
condition of surface, aggregate size etc (BS
4408:PART 4) [6] It is advisable to use hammer
test as a field test for quality control since it is
possible to test the overall pavement.
However, core sample testing should be
conducted for quality assurance to verify the
hammer results (strength) and the pavement
thickness.

6. Effectiveness of Curing
Material

Low rich concrete is being used for local road
concrete pavements and according to Sammir
et..al, curing should be done for at least 7 days
for such concrete.[7]
Saw dust was used as water retaining material
at Napekanda road while coir dust was used at
Beligaswatta road since these materials were
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freely available. Sandy soil can also be used as
a water retaining material.
Effectiveness of curing depends on water
retaining ability of such materials, and in order
to compare the effectiveness of different
materials, an experiment was conducted on a
dry sunny day (maximum temp of 35C). One
meter by one meter rectangles were marked on
the selected pavement.. After that 27000cm
3
of
measured coir dust was spread evenly on the
first block and the same volume of sandy soil
was spread on the second block while keeping
the third block as a control surface. Water was
spread on the coir dust, sandy soil and control
section to saturated conditions at 6:30 am.
Intervals at which water was spread on the
control section (without a curing material) to
keep it in a wet condition are given in Table 2.
It was found that coir dust and sandy soil
sections remained in a wet condition during
the study period. Results show that water
spraying is required in 1 hour intervals in
morning and evenings and in 30 minute
intervals during mid day for curing concrete
without a water retaining material. It can be
concluded that it is essential to use a water
retaining material for effective curing of road
sections.

Table 2- Water retaining material testing
data.
Time
Time
deference
(Minutes)
Slab
without
material
Coir
dust
Sandy
soil
6:30
7:30 60
8:50 80
9:55 65
10:45 50
11:20 35
11:55 35
12:50 55
13:42 52
14:33 51
15:30 57
16:30 60
Note: - () Water spread () water not spread

7. Measuring Surface Undulation

With reference to the available specification,
surface undulation of a concrete pavement
shall be evaluated by a standard 3 m straight
edge, but if there is a camber, this length
cannot be used to measure undulations of
concrete roads, because the average width of
local roads is about 3 m. In this case, the
standard straight edge was modified to
evaluate undulations in low volume concrete
pavements in Sri Lanka.
An aluminum rectangular hollow box of 1.5 m
length, 50 mm height and 25mm width was
used as the modified straight edge. The length
of the selected straight edge was 1.5 m since
half width of most concrete roads is about 1.5
m. Two supports of height 20 mm were fixed
at the ends of the straight edge. A wedge
which is used to measure the space between
the concrete surface and straight edge was
prepared from a steel plate with a handle. The
length of the wedge was 350 mm and height 50
mm as shown in figure 02.

Surface undulations were measured in selected
roads in the Galle district after the field survey.
Table 3 shows the data collected from
Kahaduwa Milidduwa road in Galle. This road
has been rated as a good surfaced road in the
survey. It can be seen that undulations
exceeded 10 mm only at three locations. This
study shows that 10 mm of undulation can be
allowed for rural road construction and it can
be achieved with available resources.

Figure 2 - Modified straight edge

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5 ENGINEER
8. Construction of Joints

Shrinkage stresses are induced in concrete
pavement with the hydration of cement and
shrinkage continues for a long period. As a
result of these stresses irregular cracks can be
induced in concrete. These cracks can be
avoided by providing partial depth joints at 4-
5 m intervals so that cracks due to stress are
developed under the formed joint. The joint
requires only a saw cut upto 1/3 of the
pavement thickness. All the joints observed
during the survey were full depth joints
(wooden plank placed to separate slabs). Full
depth contraction joints are weak in load
transfer between slabs and an experiment was
carried out to construct half depth contraction
joints at Napekanda road by adopting special
procedures.
The location for a contraction joint was
identified and a 14 mm wide groove was
prepared on both sides of the formwork upto
half of its depth as shown in figure 03.
Thereafter, the plywood was covered with a
polythene sheet, as shown, and was inserted
into the groove. The objective of covering the
plywood with a polythene sheet was to
prevent concrete sticking to the plywood.
Concrete was then poured into both sides of
the joint. The plywood plank was then
removed, slowly, about 4 hours after pouring
of concrete leaving the polythene sheet with
the concrete. This joint construction method
has been further developed by limiting the
joint width to 6mm using a perspex sheet
instead of the plywood plank. Mould oil can
be used instead of a polythene sheet to prevent
sticking of concrete to the Perspex sheet.
Figure 4 shows the contraction joint
construction mechanism developed by the
University of Moratuwa.

Table 3 - Reading of surface undulations
C
h
a
i
n
a
g
e

M
a
x
.

L
H
S

R
e
a
d
i
n
g

(
m
m
)

,

A

U
n
d
u
l
a
t
i
o
n

(
m
m
)

[
A
-
2
0
]

M
a
x
.

R
H
S

R
e
a
d
i
n
g

(
m
m
)
,

A

U
n
d
u
l
a
t
i
o
n

(
m
m
)
,

[
A
-
2
0
]

+000 22 2 25 5
+020 27 7 25 5
+040 30 10 30 10
+060 40 20 15 -5
+080 30 10 20 0
+100 20 0 22 2
+120 20 0 26 6
+140 27 7 32 12
+160 28 8 33 13
+180 30 10 24 4
Average 7.4 5.2
SD 5.37 5.2

Figure 3 -Construction of half depth
contraction joint

Figure 4 -Contraction joint making device
developed by University of Moratuwa

Furthermore, a few half depth contraction
joints were constructed at Aduranwila
Ehalagedara Para, Poddala, Galle by the
Authors. The construction process of the half
depth joints was different from that of
Napekanda because a Styrofoam sheet of
50mm width was used while total thickness of
the pavement was 100mm. The Styrofoam
sheet was removed on the day following
concreting..
If concrete paving is done without providing
joints, cracks will form naturally [3] and this
was observed during the condition survey.
Also. it was found that natural cracks had
Polythen
e sheet
14mm wide
grove in
formwork
6mm Perspex strip
fixed between two
wooden strips
Formwork
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developed on 7 roads out of 24 which have not
been provided with contraction joints. The
average spacing of these natural cracks was 12
m.

9. Camber / Transverse Slope.

According to Vazirani et..al[14], camber for
concrete pavements should be kept between
1.7% and 2%. According to guidelines
provided to contractors, requirement of a
camber or transverse slope has not been
mentioned. As a result, camber was not
provided on 92% of the concrete roads.
Construction of camber is not difficult and 2%
camber was achieved at Napekanda road
without much effort. It is essential to have a
camber in the road surface for surface water
runoff and also for each layer below (drain out
infiltrated water to side drains) and should be
included in the guidelines.

10. Compaction of Concrete

It was found, in the survey, that concrete was
not compacted using a vibrator when placed. It
is not advisable to use a poker vibrator for
compaction of thin concrete layers. The
Authors have developed a double beam
surface vibrator with an inbuilt camber (2%) to
compact thin concrete layers used in low
volume road construction. Vibration was
created by placing a 1 hp motor with an
eccentric weight at the center. Figure 5 shows
the double beam vibrator for compaction of
concrete. It is made of hollow aluminum
sections with a steel channel for the camber.
Two handles located at the ends can be used to
move the vibrator forward over the formwork.
Forward speed is critical in the correct use of
the vibrating beam and should be limited to
between 0.5 and 1.0 m/min. The lower speed
should be used for thicker slabs. A second pass
at a faster speed may be made for better
finishing.

Figure 5 -Double beam surface vibrators

11. Other Considerations

The recommended slump for concrete
pavements, in India, is 25mm to 50mm, if
paving is done by pavers [14]. The slump was
measured during construction of Aduranwila
Ehalagedara road and it was between 75mm
and 125mm. Literature shows that a slump of
50- 100 mm is sufficient for placing concrete.
However, excessive slump should not be
allowed since it will lead to using more free
water for concrete preparation. Close
supervision is required at the paving site to
ensure quality of concrete.

Permanent marks on the pavements were
observed on 50% of roads due to their
premature use. Access to pedestrians, vehicles
or animals should not be allowed before
concrete has gained sufficient strength in order
to avoid permanent marks. Barricades are
suggested as a solution for this purpose.
During the site visit at Agunukolapalassa,
structural damage of the pavement was
observed due to heavy vehicle movements
before gaining sufficient strength and these
damages are more critical than permanent
marks.

Motor with
eccentric load
Handle
Formwork
2%
Camber
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7 ENGINEER
The shoulder provides space for pedestrians
and additional space for traffic. Shoulders can
be constructed either before or after placing
concrete. Construction of shoulder before
placing concrete is the better practice. Shoulder
construction should be delayed until the
concrete gains sufficient strength in the event
of construction of the shoulder after placing
concrete.
Side drains for disposal of storm water should
be constructed and maintained to increase the
lifespan of the pavement. It was observed that
proper drainage has not been constructed in
the roads selected for the survey.

12. Conclusions and
Recommendations

Design weaknesses and poor construction
practices were observed during the condition
survey. Summary of good practices to
overcome design and construction weaknesses
are given below.
1. One third to half depth contraction
joint should be provided at 4-5m
intervals using 6 mm to 12 mm wide
plywood planks. A device developed
by the University of Moratuwa with a
6mm perspex sheet is recommended to
make the contraction joints.
2. According to the survey, concrete was
cured on 70% of the roads and
effectiveness of curing can be
enhanced with coir dust, saw dust or
sandy soil as water retaining material.
3. The use of concrete transit trucks
which are designed for transporting
concrete, for mixing of concrete should
be discouraged. As a result of poor
mixing of concrete, in transit trucks,
concrete strength is lowered and leads
to a low quality product.
4. Roughness or surface undulation
affects travel comfort of vehicle
occupants. A straight edge of 1.5m
long, is specified for controlling
undulations of concrete surface and
test results show that undulations of
10mm or less for 1.5m straight edge
provide a good surface for low volume
concrete roads.

5. Compaction of concrete using surface
vibrators has not been done in low
volume concrete road construction. It
is recommended to use double beam
vibrators developed by the University
of Moratuwa to consolidate and form
the surface cross fall of concrete roads.

6. Load bearing capacity of a concrete
pavement is related to its thickness
and compressive strength. Thickness
of the pavement after construction is
not easily obtained and core cutter
should be used to extract samples.
Extracted samples can be used to
measure concrete thickness and test
for compressive strength. Compressive
strength and the thickness of the
random samples should be evaluated
before releasing payments to the
contractor.
Weaknesses in current construction practices
were identified during site visits and through
interviews with personnel involved in
construction, maintenance and administration
of concrete roads. Check lists were developed
to include the good practices and to enhance
quality of low volume concrete roads as given
in the Appendix. Contractors should use the
check list, and work under each item should be
certified by the consultant or the project
management unit of the project before moving
to the next item.

References

1. American Concrete Pavement Association,
Life Cycle Cost Analysis: A Guide for
Comparing Alternate Pavement Analysis, EB
2002, 220P.

2. Design and Construction of Joints for
Concrete Streets, Concrete Information,
American Concrete Pavement Association,
IS061.01P.(ACPA 1992), 1992.

3. Guruchandran, Singh & Jagdish Singh,
Highway Engineering, Standard Publication
Distributors Delhi, Fifth Edition, 2008.

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4. Kadyali, L. R., & Lal, N. B., Principles and
Practice of Highway Engineering, Khanna
Publishers, Delhi -6 fifth edition, 2008.

5. Kulasinghe, A.N.S., Construction of
Marine Drive in Colombo including Sea
Walls, New Lighthouse and Concrete
Roadway in Prestressed concrete.1951,
http://kulasinghe.com/shells.htm

6. WSDOT, Rebound Hammer Determination
of Compressive Strength of Herded
Concrete, WSDOT Material Manual, M46-
01.03, January 2009.

7. Samir, H, AL Ani and Mokdad, A. K. AL
Zaiwary(1988) The Effect of Curing Period
and Curing Delays on Concrete inHhot
Weather, Building Material Development,
Building Research Center Bagdad, Iraq
2005-212.

8. Southeast Chapter American Concrete
Pavement Association, Who
says...Concrete Pavement Costs Too Much?
Count on Concrete Pavement, 2005.

9. Standard Specifications for Construction
and Maintenance of Roads and Bridges,
Institute for Construction Training and
Development, Sri Lanka, Revised Draft
Document 2005.(SSCM 2005).

10. Southern Transport Development Project,
Highway Section Kurudugahahetekma to
Matara. Volume 3-Technical specification
2001(STDP 2001)

11. US Department of Transportation Federal
Highways Administration web site, Office
of Highway Policy Information, Highway
Statistics 2005.
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policy/ohim/
hs05/xls/hm12.xls

12. Taylor, G.W., Patten, J.D., Effects of
Pavement Structure on Vehicle Fuel
Consumption Phase III, prepared for
Natural Resources Canada Action Plan
2000 on Climate Change and Cement
Association of Canada, January 2006.

13. Taylor, G.W., Dr. Farrell, P., and Woodside
A., Additional Analysis of the Effect of
Pavement Structure on Truck Fuel
Consumption, prepared for Government of
Canada Action Plan 2000 on Climate
Change, Concrete Roads Advisory
Committee, August 2002.

14. Vazirani, V. N., & Chandola, S. P., Concise
handbook of Civil Engineering, S Chand and
Company LTD, New Delhi, revised edition
2008.

9
ENGINEER

9 ENGINEER
Appendix
Road name:- Chainage:-
Checked By:- Designation:-
Date:- (All items to be checked in 'Done' column. NA if not applicable)

A. Check List for Sub Base/ Shoulders
No Description Done
1 Is available soil, Granular material, borrow material approved
2 Is material free from debris or any other ingredient that may deteriorate
3 Is the sub base on stable firm ground?
4 Is borrow material from approved borrow areas ?
5 Is plant adequate for on site operations
6 Is the area of work set out?
7 Is previous layer approved?
8 Is each layer parallel to the final sub base layer
9 Is compaction plant approved
10 Has a compaction trial been undertaken

B.Check List for Form Work
No Description Done
Is vertical alignment as specified?
Is horizontal alignment as specified?
Are dimensions as per specification?
Are Supports as per requirement?
Are Quality and thickness of shutters as per specification?
Are Quality and location of supports as per requirement?

C. Check List for Concrete Placing
No Description Done
1
Before
concreting
Has the method of construction been approved
2 Is formwork alignment, dimensions, rigidness & surface cleanliness
sufficient?

3 Are Joints between formwork closed (no gaps) ?
4 Are extraneous material removed from the forms immediately before
placing concrete?

5 Are Forms treated with approved oil?
6 Is sub base surface with the required moisture content?
7 Is the sub base surface undulation at approved level?
8 Mixing and compaction machines as required and in good condition?
9 Are sand, metal and cement at required specification?
10 Is material measuring method at acceptable level?
11 Is concrete hauling method at acceptable level?
12 Are surface leveling tool and booming tool available?
13 Are covering sheets available if it rains?
14 Is slump cone and test mould available?
15
During
concreting
Is concrete placed without segregation?
16 Is concrete compacted well?
17 Are the final surface level, thickness and undulation at acceptable
levels?

18
After
concreting
Does the road close for traffic satisfactorily ?
19 Is Water retaining material (core dust) available at site ?
20 Is concrete being curing satisfactorily for minimum of 7 days?
Remarks
..
Date Signature


ENGINEER 1
Validity of Reversible Flow Lanes between Kandy
Road Flyover and New Kelani Bridge Roundabout
along A01 to Accommodate Peak Traffic Flows

K. S. Weerasekera

Abstract: This paper examines ways of enhancing road capacity by improving lane efficiency
along Colombo-Kandy Road (A01) at Colombo city entrance by introducing reversible traffic flow
lanes between Kandy road flyover at Pattiya junction and New Kelani Bridge roundabout, to cater for
peak traffic flows. A traffic study was conducted between Pattiya junction and New Kelani Bridge
roundabout to find out the benefits and any losses, if reversible traffic flow lanes are introduced along
this stretch of road during peak traffic flows in mornings and evenings. Two options of lane
assignment were considered for the heavy flow direction during peak hours. Option ( i ) by adding
one extra mixed traffic lane towards the heavy flow direction while reducing a lane from the opposite
direction, and option ( ii ) adding an additional lane exclusively for buses towards the heavy flow
direction while reducing a lane in the opposite direction. These two options were considered for both
morning and evening peak traffic flows. By using Davidsons model the benefits or any losses in
travel time was computed for the two options separately for both directional peak traffic flows.

The study proved that by the introduction of reversible flow lanes along the considered section,
during morning and evening peak traffic flows, the benefits obtained by far outweigh the losses due
to minor reduction in road capacity in the opposite directional traffic flows. It was also found that
introduction of designated lanes for buses only further improves the overall efficiency of the system
with higher benefits. If buses only lanes are introduced it is of the utmost importance to implement
these lanes only for buses, as expected.

Keywords: Reversible Flow Lanes, Contra Flow, Tidal Flow, Bus Lanes

1. Introduction

Colombo Kandy road (A01), is one of the
main arterial roads of Sri Lanka radiating from
Colombo, which carries traffic travelling
towards the central hills as well as northern and
north central areas of the country. Hence, this is
one of the busiest roads in Sri Lanka which
links Colombo with other major areas of the
island. The inbound traffic towards Colombo is
very heavy during the morning peak hours
near the city entry, and severe congestion of
traffic is experienced during the week days
(Figure 1). Similar conditions are observed
during evening peak hours on weekdays in the
outbound direction. This traffic congestion
costs the state dearly by means of increased
travel time, fuel wastage, vehicle wear and tear,
loss of safety, pollution of air and noise etc.

Figure 1 Inbound Traffic towards Colombo

A newly built flyover above the main railway
line at Pattiya junction is of four lanes with two
lanes in either direction (Figure 2). The distance
from the flyover to the New Kelani Bridge
roundabout is 2 km. This stretch of 2 km road
consists of six lanes in an undivided
Eng. (Prof.) K. S. Weerasekera, BSc Eng (Moratuwa),
MEngSc (UNSW), PhD (UNSW), FIE (Sri Lanka), CEng,
IntPE(SL), MIE (Aust), CPEng, MIHT (UK), MASCE,
Professor in Civil Engineering, Department of Civil
Engineering, The Open University of Sri Lanka.

11
ENGINEER

ENGINEER 1
Validity of Reversible Flow Lanes between Kandy
Road Flyover and New Kelani Bridge Roundabout
along A01 to Accommodate Peak Traffic Flows

K. S. Weerasekera

Abstract: This paper examines ways of enhancing road capacity by improving lane efficiency
along Colombo-Kandy Road (A01) at Colombo city entrance by introducing reversible traffic flow
lanes between Kandy road flyover at Pattiya junction and New Kelani Bridge roundabout, to cater for
peak traffic flows. A traffic study was conducted between Pattiya junction and New Kelani Bridge
roundabout to find out the benefits and any losses, if reversible traffic flow lanes are introduced along
this stretch of road during peak traffic flows in mornings and evenings. Two options of lane
assignment were considered for the heavy flow direction during peak hours. Option ( i ) by adding
one extra mixed traffic lane towards the heavy flow direction while reducing a lane from the opposite
direction, and option ( ii ) adding an additional lane exclusively for buses towards the heavy flow
direction while reducing a lane in the opposite direction. These two options were considered for both
morning and evening peak traffic flows. By using Davidsons model the benefits or any losses in
travel time was computed for the two options separately for both directional peak traffic flows.

The study proved that by the introduction of reversible flow lanes along the considered section,
during morning and evening peak traffic flows, the benefits obtained by far outweigh the losses due
to minor reduction in road capacity in the opposite directional traffic flows. It was also found that
introduction of designated lanes for buses only further improves the overall efficiency of the system
with higher benefits. If buses only lanes are introduced it is of the utmost importance to implement
these lanes only for buses, as expected.

Keywords: Reversible Flow Lanes, Contra Flow, Tidal Flow, Bus Lanes

1. Introduction

Colombo Kandy road (A01), is one of the
main arterial roads of Sri Lanka radiating from
Colombo, which carries traffic travelling
towards the central hills as well as northern and
north central areas of the country. Hence, this is
one of the busiest roads in Sri Lanka which
links Colombo with other major areas of the
island. The inbound traffic towards Colombo is
very heavy during the morning peak hours
near the city entry, and severe congestion of
traffic is experienced during the week days
(Figure 1). Similar conditions are observed
during evening peak hours on weekdays in the
outbound direction. This traffic congestion
costs the state dearly by means of increased
travel time, fuel wastage, vehicle wear and tear,
loss of safety, pollution of air and noise etc.

Figure 1 Inbound Traffic towards Colombo

A newly built flyover above the main railway
line at Pattiya junction is of four lanes with two
lanes in either direction (Figure 2). The distance
from the flyover to the New Kelani Bridge
roundabout is 2 km. This stretch of 2 km road
consists of six lanes in an undivided
Eng. (Prof.) K. S. Weerasekera, BSc Eng (Moratuwa),
MEngSc (UNSW), PhD (UNSW), FIE (Sri Lanka), CEng,
IntPE(SL), MIE (Aust), CPEng, MIHT (UK), MASCE,
Professor in Civil Engineering, Department of Civil
Engineering, The Open University of Sri Lanka.

ENGINEER
12

ENGINEER 2
carriageway with 3 lanes in either direction.
With the introduction of the new flyover at
Pattiya junction the interruption to A01 traffic
arising from frequent rail gate closures of the
main railway line has been eliminated, but the
congestion between Pattiya junction and the
New Kelani Bridge roundabout has not
reduced.

Figure 2 Pattiya Junction Flyover along A01

It is observed that during peak flows, the traffic
towards the heavy direction is extremely heavy,
but in the opposite direction the road space is
not utilised effectively (see Figure 1). Hence,
this study intends to investigate the benefits
that could be reaped by introducing reversible or
contra flow traffic flow lanes.

2. Reversible Traffic Flow Lanes
or Contra Flow Lanes

In busy arterial roads, when the movement of
traffic is very heavy in one direction during a
certain period of the day, and also becomes
very heavy in the opposite direction during
another time of the day, this phenomenon is
commonly termed as tidal flow. As a solution
to address the tidal flows reversible lanes can
be introduced. A reversible lane is one, where
the direction of traffic movement is changed
according to the intensity of traffic flow in a
particular direction (Kadiyali [1]; Salter &
Hounsell [2]).

3. Traffic Data Collection

A manual classified traffic count was
performed for 16 hours at a location at 1 km
south of Pattiya junction flyover (i.e. towards
Colombo) on a normal working day from
6:00AM to 10:00PM. Two-directional traffic was
recorded separately at 15 minute intervals at
the counting location for 7 different categories
of vehicles.

The seven broad categories of vehicles were;
three-wheelers, cars & SUVs, all vans, all types
of buses, goods carrying vehicles, all vehicles
with 3 axles, and vehicle with 4 axles or more as
indicated in Tables 1 & 2. The Passenger Car
Unit (PCU) factors based on RDA records, for
these separate categories of vehicles on flat terrain
roads with multiple lanes are indicated in Table
3.

Table 1 Hourly Traffic Volume
(To Colombo) at Peliyagoda on A01

Time TWL CAR VAN BUS GV 3A 4 Total
6 - 7 284 946 423 414 129 17 6 2218
7 - 8 644 1481 399 352 167 2 8 3052
8 - 9 503 1076 195 217 220 7 7 2224
9 - 10 411 863 162 184 245 2 21 1890
10- 11 333 694 146 155 219 14 10 1572
11- 12 502 468 189 197 195 11 28 1589
12- 13 421 541 230 233 169 13 31 1639
13- 14 428 407 233 210 176 22 20 1495
14- 15 321 562 175 197 160 10 17 1441
15- 16 354 571 170 225 163 12 20 1515
16- 17 294 504 226 209 188 18 14 1453
17- 18 224 485 266 256 97 14 21 1363
18- 19 305 484 204 309 118 13 26 1459
19- 20 303 478 161 225 101 17 17 1301
20- 21 165 311 166 186 91 24 15 958
21- 22 135 265 149 148 66 15 9 788

6 - 22 5627 10136 3493 3717 2504 211 267 25955

(To Kandy) at Peliyagoda on A01
Time TWL CAR VAN BUS GV 3AV 4A Total
6 - 7 118 196 112 189 90 2 3 710
7 - 8 304 328 152 216 100 21 25 1146
8 - 9 251 309 114 226 171 3 10 1084
9 - 10 250 287 119 188 234 17 20 1114
10- 11 330 400 173 184 295 14 18 1414
11- 12 337 402 175 237 307 11 15 1484
12- 13 327 352 169 267 272 11 21 1419
13- 14 367 423 264 270 286 7 24 1641
14- 15 234 439 349 284 245 13 19 1584
15- 16 380 450 216 230 310 12 22 1620
16- 17 245 517 240 282 343 20 20 1668
17- 18 250 928 311 290 254 12 23 2068
18- 19 403 1024 323 300 211 21 14 2296
19- 20 433 1252 377 340 210 22 19 2653
20- 21 334 649 242 260 209 19 29 1741
21- 22 279 515 210 220 156 12 26 1419

6- 22 4841 8471 3548 3983 3694 217 308 25061
13
ENGINEER

ENGINEER 2
carriageway with 3 lanes in either direction.
With the introduction of the new flyover at
Pattiya junction the interruption to A01 traffic
arising from frequent rail gate closures of the
main railway line has been eliminated, but the
congestion between Pattiya junction and the
New Kelani Bridge roundabout has not
reduced.

Figure 2 Pattiya Junction Flyover along A01

It is observed that during peak flows, the traffic
towards the heavy direction is extremely heavy,
but in the opposite direction the road space is
not utilised effectively (see Figure 1). Hence,
this study intends to investigate the benefits
that could be reaped by introducing reversible or
contra flow traffic flow lanes.

2. Reversible Traffic Flow Lanes
or Contra Flow Lanes

In busy arterial roads, when the movement of
traffic is very heavy in one direction during a
certain period of the day, and also becomes
very heavy in the opposite direction during
another time of the day, this phenomenon is
commonly termed as tidal flow. As a solution
to address the tidal flows reversible lanes can
be introduced. A reversible lane is one, where
the direction of traffic movement is changed
according to the intensity of traffic flow in a
particular direction (Kadiyali [1]; Salter &
Hounsell [2]).

3. Traffic Data Collection

A manual classified traffic count was
performed for 16 hours at a location at 1 km
south of Pattiya junction flyover (i.e. towards
Colombo) on a normal working day from
6:00AM to 10:00PM. Two-directional traffic was
recorded separately at 15 minute intervals at
the counting location for 7 different categories
of vehicles.

The seven broad categories of vehicles were;
three-wheelers, cars & SUVs, all vans, all types
of buses, goods carrying vehicles, all vehicles
with 3 axles, and vehicle with 4 axles or more as
indicated in Tables 1 & 2. The Passenger Car
Unit (PCU) factors based on RDA records, for
these separate categories of vehicles on flat terrain
roads with multiple lanes are indicated in Table
3.

(To Colombo) at Peliyagoda on A01

Time TWL CAR VAN BUS GV 3A 4 Total
6 - 7 284 946 423 414 129 17 6 2218
7 - 8 644 1481 399 352 167 2 8 3052
8 - 9 503 1076 195 217 220 7 7 2224
9 - 10 411 863 162 184 245 2 21 1890
10- 11 333 694 146 155 219 14 10 1572
11- 12 502 468 189 197 195 11 28 1589
12- 13 421 541 230 233 169 13 31 1639
13- 14 428 407 233 210 176 22 20 1495
14- 15 321 562 175 197 160 10 17 1441
15- 16 354 571 170 225 163 12 20 1515
16- 17 294 504 226 209 188 18 14 1453
17- 18 224 485 266 256 97 14 21 1363
18- 19 305 484 204 309 118 13 26 1459
19- 20 303 478 161 225 101 17 17 1301
20- 21 165 311 166 186 91 24 15 958
21- 22 135 265 149 148 66 15 9 788

6 - 22 5627 10136 3493 3717 2504 211 267 25955

(To Kandy) at Peliyagoda on A01
Time TWL CAR VAN BUS GV 3AV 4A Total
6 - 7 118 196 112 189 90 2 3 710
7 - 8 304 328 152 216 100 21 25 1146
8 - 9 251 309 114 226 171 3 10 1084
9 - 10 250 287 119 188 234 17 20 1114
10- 11 330 400 173 184 295 14 18 1414
11- 12 337 402 175 237 307 11 15 1484
12- 13 327 352 169 267 272 11 21 1419
13- 14 367 423 264 270 286 7 24 1641
14- 15 234 439 349 284 245 13 19 1584
15- 16 380 450 216 230 310 12 22 1620
16- 17 245 517 240 282 343 20 20 1668
17- 18 250 928 311 290 254 12 23 2068
18- 19 403 1024 323 300 211 21 14 2296
19- 20 433 1252 377 340 210 22 19 2653
20- 21 334 649 242 260 209 19 29 1741
21- 22 279 515 210 220 156 12 26 1419

6- 22 4841 8471 3548 3983 3694 217 308 25061

ENGINEER 3
Table 3 Equivalent Passenger Car Units
(PCU) for Flat Terrain Multiple Lane
Roads

TWL CAR VAN BUS GV 3A 4A
0.8 1.0 1.5 2.0 1.7 2.8 3.5

A separate short duration vehicle occupancy
count was conducted during peak hours to
observe the average number of passengers
carried by different categories of vehicles.

Peak hour average passenger count indicated
that, the average occupancy of a bus is around
40 passengers and all other vehicles considered
as a mix is around 3.25 passengers per vehicle.
These values were used for computing vehicle
occupancy in the study.

Figure 3 shows two-directional hourly traffic
flows separately, and also the total hourly
traffic flow along the considered road section
over the counting period from 6:00AM to
10:00PM.

Traffic Flow on A1 at Peliyagoda
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
4000
4500
6
:
0
0

-

7
:
0
0
7
:
0
0

-

8
:
0
0
8
:
0
0

-

9
:
0
0
9
:
0
0

-

1
0
:
0
0
1
0
:
0
0

-

1
1
:
0
0
1
1
:
0
0

-

1
2
:
0
0
1
2
:
0
0

-

1
3
:
0
0
1
3
:
0
0

-

1
4
:
0
0
1
4
:
0
0

-

1
5
:
0
0
1
5
:
0
0

-

1
6
:
0
0
1
6
:
0
0

-

1
7
:
0
0
1
7
:
0
0

-

1
8
:
0
0
1
8
:
0
0

-

1
9
:
0
0
1
9
:
0
0

-

2
0
:
0
0
2
0
:
0
0

-

2
1
:
0
0
2
1
:
0
0

-

2
2
:
0
0
Time (hours)
T
r
a
f
f
i
c

F
l
o
w

(
v
e
h
/
h
r
)
To Colombo
FromColombo
Total

Figure 3 Hourly Traffic Flows on A01 at
Peliyagoda

4. Methodology & Analysis

From the traffic survey results it was identified
that the morning peak is from 7:00AM to
8:00AM and the total vehicle volume towards
Colombo is around 3050 vph. During the
morning peak the total vehicle volume
travelling out of Colombo was around 1150 vph
(see Figure 3). The total two directional flow
was around 4200 vph.

Similarly, the out-bound traffic reaches its peak
in the evening between 7:00PM to 8:00PM and
the volume is around 2650 vph. During the
evening peak the total vehicle volume towards
Colombo is around 1300 vph (see Figure 3). The
total two directional flow was around 3950 vph,
which was less than the morning peak flow.
This can clearly be seen in Figure 3.

There are several models available to compute
the travel time [3].

(i) The Bureau of Public Roads (BRP) model
used in the UK, (ii) Greenshields model, and
(iii) Davidsons model are few models that
could be used in computing the travel time
benefits or losses.

It was decided to use Davidsons model [4], to
compute the travel time benefits or losses since
it suited better with local parameters and for
better relative accuracy. Davidsons model
considers parameters such as type of road, road
width, frequency of signals, pedestrian
crossings, and parked vehicles etc.

Davidson [4] successfully used the following
model to compute travel time differences for
varying lane options for urban arterial roads as
well as freeways.

(

=
) 1 (
) 1 ( 1
0
y
y j
t t

Where,
t - travel time at traffic flow q

0
t - time taken to travel with no other traffic
(i.e., zero flow travel time)

q traffic flow (veh/hr/lane)

s - saturation flow (veh/hr/lane)

y = q/s

j - level of service parameter

j is the Level of Service (LOS) parameter which
is related to the type of road, road width,
frequency of signals, pedestrian crossings, and
parked vehicles. Blunden and Black [5] suggest
following values for j.

j = 0 to 0.2 for freeways
j = 0.4 to 0.6 for urban arterials
j = 1 to 1.5 for collector roads

Hence it is reasonable to assume j = 0.5 for
Colombo Kandy road.
ENGINEER
14

ENGINEER 4

Zero flow travel time (
0
t ) was taken as 2
minutes assuming a desired speed of 60 km/h
over the study distance of 2 km with no other
traffic.

This study intends to consider several options
of lane operations between Pattiya junction and
New Kelani Bridge roundabout. This road
stretch of 2 km in length (Figure 4) consists of 3
lanes in each direction.

Figure 4 Site Layout

Morning Peak Flows:

Option ( 1 ) During the morning peak, to have
4 lanes (with mixed traffic) operating towards
Colombo bound direction, and 2 lanes (with
mixed traffic) operating for out of Colombo
traffic as shown in Figure 5.

Figure 5 Lane Operation Option ( 1 )

Option ( 2 ) - During the morning peak, to
have 3 lanes (with mixed traffic) and another
lane exclusively for buses operating towards
Colombo inbound direction, and 2 lanes (with


Evening Peak Flows:

Option ( 3 ) During the evening peak, to have
out of Colombo direction, and 2 lanes (mixed
traffic) operating towards Colombo as shown in
Figure 7.


Option ( 4 ) - During the evening peak, to have
3 lanes (with mixed traffic) and another lane
exclusively for buses for traffic going out of
Colombo, and 2 lanes (with mixed traffic) for
Colombo bound traffic as shown in Figure 8.


Davidsons model was applied to compute the
benefits or losses of saving on travel time, and
then the best options were selected.
Computation is summarised in Tables 4 & 5
respectively for morning and evening peak
flows.
Bus
Bus
Kandy
Colombo
Kandy
Colombo
Kandy
Colombo
Kandy
Colombo
Flyover
Roundabout
To Negambo To
Kandy
15
ENGINEER

ENGINEER 4

Zero flow travel time (
0
t ) was taken as 2
minutes assuming a desired speed of 60 km/h
over the study distance of 2 km with no other
traffic.

This study intends to consider several options
of lane operations between Pattiya junction and
New Kelani Bridge roundabout. This road
stretch of 2 km in length (Figure 4) consists of 3
lanes in each direction.

Figure 4 Site Layout

Morning Peak Flows:

Option ( 1 ) During the morning peak, to have
Colombo bound direction, and 2 lanes (with


Option ( 2 ) - During the morning peak, to
have 3 lanes (with mixed traffic) and another
lane exclusively for buses operating towards
Colombo inbound direction, and 2 lanes (with


Evening Peak Flows:

Option ( 3 ) During the evening peak, to have
out of Colombo direction, and 2 lanes (mixed
traffic) operating towards Colombo as shown in
Figure 7.


Option ( 4 ) - During the evening peak, to have
3 lanes (with mixed traffic) and another lane
exclusively for buses for traffic going out of
Colombo, and 2 lanes (with mixed traffic) for
Colombo bound traffic as shown in Figure 8.


Davidsons model was applied to compute the
benefits or losses of saving on travel time, and
then the best options were selected.
Computation is summarised in Tables 4 & 5
respectively for morning and evening peak
flows.
Bus
Bus
Kandy
Colombo
Kandy
Colombo
Kandy
Colombo
Kandy
Colombo
Flyover
Roundabout
To Negambo To
Kandy

ENGINEER 5
Table 4 Application of Davidsons Model for Two Directional Traffic in the Morning Peak
To Colombo Direction (PHF 7:00AM to 8:00AM) --------->
Existing Option ( 1 ) Option ( 2 )
Mixed Mixed Mixed Mixed Bus Mixed Mixed
----> <---- ----> <---- ----> ----> <----
----> <---- ----> <---- ----> <----
----> <---- ----> ---->
---->
vph 3050 1150 3050 1150 350 2700 1150
(Bus/hr) 350 220 350 220 350 - 220
pcu 3615 1550 3615 1550 700 2910 1550
Lanes 3 3 4 2 1 3 2
q 1205 517 904 775 700 970 775
s 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000
y = q / s 0.603 0.259 0.452 0.388 0.350 0.485 0.388
j 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5
T 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
t = travel time 3.516 2.349 2.825 2.633 2.538 2.942 2.633
Occupancy - M 3.25 3.25 3.25 3.25 50 3.25 3.25
Occupancy - B 50 50 50 50 50
Persons 26275 14022.5 26275 14022.5 17500 8775 14022.5
Passenger minutes 92375.63 32933.49 74222.08 36916.38 44423.08 25813.83 36916.38
Benefit / Loss - - 18153.55 -3982.89 22138.72 -3982.89
B L B L
Net Benefit / Loss 14170.66 18155.83

Table 5 Application of Davidsons Model for Two Directional Traffic in the Evening Peak
To Kandy Direction (PHF 7:00AM to 8:00PM) <-----------
Existing Option ( 3 ) Option ( 4 )
Mixed Mixed Mixed Mixed Mixed Mixed Bus
----> <---- ----> <---- ----> <---- <----
----> <---- ----> <---- ----> <----
----> <---- <---- <----
<----
vph 1300 2650 1300 2650 1300 2310 340
(Bus/hr) 225 340 225 340 225 - 340
pcu 1690 3330 1690 3330 1690 2650 680
Lanes 3 3 2 4 2 3 1
q 565 1110 845 835 845 885 680
s 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000
y = q / s 0.283 0.555 0.423 0.418 0.423 0.443 0.340
j 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5
T 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
t = travel time 2.394 3.247 2.732 2.717 2.732 2.794 2.515
Occupancy - M 3.25 3.25 3.25 3.25 3.25 3.25 50
Occupancy - B 50 50 50 50 50
Persons 14744 24508 14744 24508 14744 7507.5 17000
Passenger minutes 35292.53 79580.53 40274.05 66580.46 40274.05 20973.87 42757.58
Benefit / Loss - - -4981.52 13000.07 -4981.52 15849.09
L B L B
Net Benefit / Loss 8018.55 10867.57
ENGINEER
16

ENGINEER 6
5. Findings of the Study

From Table 4 it could be seen that the
introduction of a new mixed lane towards
Colombo during the morning peak will
have a net reduction in travel time by
14,170 passenger minutes during the peak
hour. If one of the in-bound lanes is
designated to buses only, there will be a
reduction in travel time by 18,155
passenger minutes. Hence converting a
lane towards Colombo direction is
advantageous, and if this lane is
designated to buses only the advantage is
higher.

Similarly from Table 5 it could be seen that
the introduction of a new mixed lane for
vehicles travelling out of Colombo in the
evening peak will have a net reduction in
travel time by 8,018 passenger minutes
during the peak hour. If one of the out-
bound lanes is designated to buses only,
there will be a reduction in travel time by
10,867 passenger minutes.

It was found that introduction of a
reversible lane (mix or buses only) towards
Colombo bound traffic was advantageous
from 6:00AM to 9:00AM, since during this
period Colombo bound traffic volume
increases above 2000 vph (see Figure 3).
Therefore, a 4th lane towards Colombo
during this period is found to be beneficial
to the system. Similarly, introduction of a
4th lane for out-bound traffic which is
above 2000 vph from 5:30PM to 8:30PM
(see Figure 3) is also beneficial.

6. Conclusions

From options (1) & (3), it is observed that
benefits can be obtained by introduction of
reversible lanes during morning and
evening peaks for mixed traffic, to enhance
the road efficiency during peak flows.

From options (2) & (4) results it is clear that
introduction of designated lanes only for
buses will further improve the overall
efficiency of the system. If buses only
lanes are introduced it is of the utmost
importance to reserve these lanes only for
buses as expected. To obtain the maximum
benefits it should be ensured that buses
will not enter the mixed traffic lanes. If this
enforcement is neglected it can end up as a
failure as shown in [6].

When implementing the reversible flow
lanes, careful attention should be paid to
the intersection at the turn-off to Biyagama
road, and also to the terminal at New
Kelani Bridge roundabout to ensure
smooth flow of traffic at these critical
points.

If the proposed scheme is implemented,
one operational advantage is that, since
this road stretch is located adjoining the
Peliyagoda Police Station, strict
implementation is possible with close
supervision from the Peliyagoda traffic
police division.

It is important that when flow direction is
changed in reversible flow lanes, to pay the
utmost care by the implementers towards
the safety of the drivers during the
transition. It is also important that strict
lane discipline be maintained by all drivers
for obtaining maximum benefits while
ensuring safety of all the road users.

References

1. Kadiyali, L. R., Traffic Engineering and
Transport Planning, Khanna Publishers, 2-
B, Nath Market, Nai Sarak, Delhi, India,
1997.

2. Salter, R. J. and Hounsell, N. B., Highway
Traffic Analysis and Design, MACMILLAN
Press Ltd., London, 1996.

3. Khisty, C. J. and Kent Lall, B.,
Transportation Engineering An
Introduction 2
nd
Ed. Prentice-Hall
International, Inc., New Jersey, 1998.

4. Davidson, K. B., A Flow Travel time
Relationship for Use in Transport
Planning, Proceedings, Australian Road
Research Board 3, 1966.

5. Blunden, W. R. and Black, J. A., The Land
Use / Transportation System, 2
nd
Ed.
Pergamon Press, Elmsford, NY, 1984.

6. Weerasekera, K. S., Trial Introduction of a
Bus Lane on A02: A Post-mortem,
ENGINEER Journal of The Institution of
Engineers, Sri Lanka, Vol. 43, No. 03, pp.
53-56, The Institution of Engineers, Sri
Lanka, July 2010.
17
ENGINEER

ENGINEER 6
5. Findings of the Study

From Table 4 it could be seen that the
introduction of a new mixed lane towards
Colombo during the morning peak will
have a net reduction in travel time by
14,170 passenger minutes during the peak
hour. If one of the in-bound lanes is
designated to buses only, there will be a
reduction in travel time by 18,155
passenger minutes. Hence converting a
lane towards Colombo direction is
advantageous, and if this lane is
designated to buses only the advantage is
higher.

Similarly from Table 5 it could be seen that
the introduction of a new mixed lane for
vehicles travelling out of Colombo in the
evening peak will have a net reduction in
travel time by 8,018 passenger minutes
during the peak hour. If one of the out-
bound lanes is designated to buses only,
there will be a reduction in travel time by
10,867 passenger minutes.

It was found that introduction of a
reversible lane (mix or buses only) towards
Colombo bound traffic was advantageous
from 6:00AM to 9:00AM, since during this
period Colombo bound traffic volume
increases above 2000 vph (see Figure 3).
Therefore, a 4th lane towards Colombo
during this period is found to be beneficial
to the system. Similarly, introduction of a
4th lane for out-bound traffic which is
above 2000 vph from 5:30PM to 8:30PM
(see Figure 3) is also beneficial.

6. Conclusions

From options (1) & (3), it is observed that
benefits can be obtained by introduction of
reversible lanes during morning and
evening peaks for mixed traffic, to enhance
the road efficiency during peak flows.

From options (2) & (4) results it is clear that
introduction of designated lanes only for
buses will further improve the overall
efficiency of the system. If buses only
lanes are introduced it is of the utmost
importance to reserve these lanes only for
buses as expected. To obtain the maximum
benefits it should be ensured that buses
will not enter the mixed traffic lanes. If this
enforcement is neglected it can end up as a
failure as shown in [6].

When implementing the reversible flow
lanes, careful attention should be paid to
the intersection at the turn-off to Biyagama
road, and also to the terminal at New
Kelani Bridge roundabout to ensure
smooth flow of traffic at these critical
points.

If the proposed scheme is implemented,
one operational advantage is that, since
this road stretch is located adjoining the
Peliyagoda Police Station, strict
implementation is possible with close
supervision from the Peliyagoda traffic
police division.

It is important that when flow direction is
changed in reversible flow lanes, to pay the
utmost care by the implementers towards
the safety of the drivers during the
transition. It is also important that strict
lane discipline be maintained by all drivers
for obtaining maximum benefits while
ensuring safety of all the road users.

References

1. Kadiyali, L. R., Traffic Engineering and
Transport Planning, Khanna Publishers, 2-
B, Nath Market, Nai Sarak, Delhi, India,
1997.

2. Salter, R. J. and Hounsell, N. B., Highway
Traffic Analysis and Design, MACMILLAN
Press Ltd., London, 1996.

3. Khisty, C. J. and Kent Lall, B.,
Transportation Engineering An
Introduction 2
nd
Ed. Prentice-Hall
International, Inc., New Jersey, 1998.

4. Davidson, K. B., A Flow Travel time
Relationship for Use in Transport
Planning, Proceedings, Australian Road
Research Board 3, 1966.

5. Blunden, W. R. and Black, J. A., The Land
Use / Transportation System, 2
nd
Ed.
Pergamon Press, Elmsford, NY, 1984.

6. Weerasekera, K. S., Trial Introduction of a
Bus Lane on A02: A Post-mortem,
ENGINEER Journal of The Institution of
Engineers, Sri Lanka, Vol. 43, No. 03, pp.
53-56, The Institution of Engineers, Sri
Lanka, July 2010.

ENGINEER 1

Effectiveness of Traffic Forecasting on Pavement
Designs for Sri Lankan Roads
W. K. Mampearachchi and P. H. Gunasinghe
Abstract: Pavement design plays an important role in any improvement or rehabilitation. It is a
responsibility of the road design Engineer to ensure that he has come up with an effective design, so
that it will last for the design life. This effectiveness or the optimization is very important as
otherwise it could lead to financial implications.
The method adopted for the design of flexible pavements is the TRL, Road Note 31. The two main
parameters considered in the design of the pavements under Road Note 31 are Cumulative Number
of Standard Axles (CNSA) (i.e. Traffic Class) and the sub-grade strength (i.e. California Bearing Ratio
(CBR)% class).
In this research study, flexible pavement designs of recently rehabilitated or improved set of roads
were analyzed to check the effectiveness of the traffic forecasting on pavement design. As the sub-
grade strength of the pavements is a fixed parameter in all the cases, the only possible variable is the
Traffic Class relevant to predicted CNSA.
It was found in the study that the actual traffic growth rates of different modes of traffic which travels
along the selected roads is different to the predicted rates at the time of design. It has also been shown
and statistically proved that the Equivalent Standard Axles (ESA) values actually applied on these
pavements by large trucks / heavy goods vehicles are significantly high, compared to the ESA values
recorded at the design stage. The authors have proposed a methodology to evaluate the effectiveness
of traffic forecasting on pavement designs, and improvements to the present practice of pavement
designs carried out by the Road Development Authority (RDA) and its presentation.

Keywords: Pavement Designs, Sri Lankan roads

1. Introduction
The damage that vehicles cause to a road
depends very strongly on the axle loads of the
vehicles. For pavement design purposes the
damaging power of axles is related to a
standard axle of 8.16 tonnes using
equivalence factors which have been derived
from empirical studies [1,2]

The method adopted for the design of flexible
pavements is similar to the Transport Research
Laboratory (TRL), Road Note 31,[3]. The two
main parameters considered in the design of
the pavements under Road Note 31 are
Cumulative Number of Standard Axles
(CNSA) and the sub-grade strength [3]. The
design of rigid pavements is carried out as [4].
The deterioration of paved roads caused by
traffic is due to both the magnitude of the
individual wheel loads and the number of
times these loads are applied. For pavement
design purposes, it is therefore necessary to
consider not only the total number of vehicles
that will use the road, but also the vehicle
wheel or axle loads. Hence, both traffic count
and axle load information are essential for
pavement design purposes.
In many countries, road traffic is growing
rapidly in volume and in the size and weight
of the vehicles using the roads. As a
consequence, highway engineers concerned
with designing new roads or the strengthening
of existing roads require reliable information
about the distribution of axle loads for existing
traffic as well as information on National or
regional axle load trends. This information is
required, so that accurate forecasts can be
made of the axle loads that a road will have to
carry over its design life.

Eng. (Dr.) W. K. Mampearachchi, BSc.
Eng.(Hons)(Moratuwa), MIE (Sri Lanka), MSCE (South
Florida), PhD (Florida), CMILT (UK), Senior Lecturer,
Department of Civil Engineering, University Moratuwa,
Katubedda, Moratuwa, Sri Lanka.
Eng. P. H. Gunasinghe., B.Sc. Eng. (Moratuwa), M.Eng.
(Highway & Traffic, Moratuwa), MIE(Sri Lanka), Chief
Engineer, Road Development Authority.

ENGINEER
18

ENGINEER 2

Since the pavement design plays an important
role in any improvement or rehabilitation, it is
a responsibility of the road design Engineer to
ensure that he has come up with an effective
design, so that it will last for the design life.
This effectiveness or the optimization is very
important as otherwise it could lead to
financial implications. If it is under designed,
it will not last till the end of its design life,
thereby incurring huge sums of money for the
early rehabilitation and maintenance.
If it is over designed, that would also be an
undesirable fact, as the cost over run on this
could have been utilized to improve another
few kilometers of road.

2. Significance of the Problem
If pavements are to be designed adequately,
the importance of accurate knowledge about
the magnitude and frequency of the axle loads
being carried on the roads is self-evident.
When any road project is being designed, or
appraised at the feasibility stage, it is
recommended that a classified traffic count
and an axle load survey of commercial
vehicles are undertaken. Ideally, such
surveys should be carried out several times
during the year to reflect seasonal changes [5]
in the numbers of vehicles and the magnitude
of the loads.
In the Sri Lankan context, it expends a large
sum of money on the improvements and the
maintenance of the existing road network.
Every year, a substantial percent of GDP is
allocated for the road sector. As far as the
present economic situation of the country is
concerned, this allocation is inadequate to
meet the expenditure required for the
rehabilitation and improvements of the
present road network. Hence, the country has
to depend on foreign investments, grants and
loans for the further improvements and the
development of the road sector. The situation
has further worsened , as the country is facing
an economic crisis. The allocated funds
sometimes do not meet even the urgent
rehabilitation and maintenance of the entire
road network.
In view of the above, there is a need to utilize
the limited allocated funds in an effective
manner. It is therefore, necessary to make sure
that there are well disciplined procedures in
the planning, design, construction, monitoring
and maintenance of the entire road network.
3. Present Practice of Pavement
Design/Traffic Forecasting
Generally, for the rehabilitation or the road
improvement projects funded by the
Government of Sri Lanka, the pavement
designs are done by the Road Development
Authority (RDA). The present method of
design is based on the Transport Research
Laboratory method [3], but modified to suit
local conditions. The method covers roads
carrying traffic up to 30 million standard axles
during the design period [6]. Also, the
specifications for the materials to be used in
the various pavement layers are as specified in
the standard specifications of RDA.[7] It was
found that in most of the occasions the ESA
values have been assumed or else typical
values for ESA in designs for RDA roads have
been used. Sometimes ADT/MCC data used
for the designs were out dated. It was also
noted that there is no standard or consistency
in the design reports. These depend on the
design Engineer.
Despite, some improvements have been done
for the pavement designs by RDA; it is
normally assumed the year of construction
(two to three years assumed from the design
year) and also uses ESA values recorded
elsewhere due to the unavailability of ESA
values on the particular road section.

1995 1997 2007
Assumed Design life(10 yrs)
Operation year(Assumed)
Design year

4. Calculation of Actual Traffic
Growth Rates
For each road section, the classified quantities
of the traffic (Manual Classified Counts, i.e.
Figure 1 - Present Practice of Pavement
Design/Traffic Forecasting of RDA
19
ENGINEER

ENGINEER 3

MCC) for each category of vehicles are
collected for both the periods of design stage
and in the recent past after the road section is
opened for traffic. These are converted to
ADT using following factors.

4.1. Factors Used for Calculation of ADT

The Planning Division of the RDA, generally
use expansion factors to convert MCC to ADT
depending on the hours of count of the MCC.
Factor; 1.1 and 1.2 are usually used to convert
16 hours and 12 hours MCC to ADT
respectively. Traffic volume counted in the
manual classified count for a certain time
period is expanded to obtain the 24 hours
traffic volume using expansion factors derived
for each district.

4.2 Calculation of Cumulative Number of
standard Axles (CNSA)
From the factors derived from the American
Association of State Highway and
Transportation Officials (ASSHTO) road test
which enable the damaging power of axle
loads of different magnitudes to be expressed
in terms of an equivalent number of standard
axle loads, the number of axles of each type of
vehicle that will use the road during its design
life is equated to an equivalent number of
standard axles [8].

The cumulative number of standard axles
(CNSA) for the design period can be
determined by the expression,

CNSA = 365 P
i
[(1+r
i
)
n
1]

Where,
Pi = number of standard axles
per day as an average for
the 1
st
year after
construction for vehicle
type i
ri = rate of growth for vehicle
type i
m = number of types of vehicles
n = design life in years.
At the time of pavement design, the predicted
number of equivalent standard axles value
(Designed CNSA) has been estimated using
the traffic volumes (ADT) and the average
ESA values of different vehicle categories for
the road section concerned assuming that the
particular road section would be constructed
and in operation after a few years (generally
two to three years allowed).

4.3 Selection of Traffic Class & Sub Grade
Strength Class
There are eight traffic classes (T1-T8) and six
sub grade strength classes (S1-S6) given in
TRL, Road Note 31 (DOE, 1993). The traffic
class relevant to calculated CNSA can be
selected accordingly. Similarly, sub grade
class also can be selected as the CBR of sub
grade is known
5. Methodology
In this research study, flexible pavement
designs of recently rehabilitated or improved
set of roads were analyzed to check the
effectiveness of the traffic forecasting on
pavement design. As the sub-grade strength
of the pavements is a fixed parameter in all the
cases, the only possible variable is the Traffic
Class relevant to predicted CNSA. In order to
test the reliability of the prediction of CNSA,
three Scenarios were selected. They were
selected based on the Equivalent Standard
Axle (ESA), Manual Classified Counts (MCC)
and Average Daily Traffic (ADT) data. Recent
ADT data and design ADT are associated in
the actual traffic growth rates.

The local funded and foreign funded roads are
analyzed separately because the traffic growth
factors used for foreign funded roads are
different to local funded roads(as they are two
different parties) and also there are slight
changes in calculating the pavement layers. So
the main data required for this study is recent
ADT and recent ESA values of vehicle types
for each selected road section. The other data
required are number of lanes, last
improvement & date of improvement and the
design data (i.e. design method, year, design
life, ADT, predicted year of operation, actual
year of operation, predicted vehicle growth
i =1
ri
ENGINEER
20

ENGINEER 4

rate, design CNSA and design pavement
layers).
Since the actual date (year) of operation after
rehabilitation / improvement is now known, a
more realistic prediction could be made using
a new set of data. As such, a new CNSA was
calculated for the same design life. This was
counted from the actual date of operation
using the following scenarios.
Scenario 1:
Calculation of CNSA using recent data (recent
ADT & ESA values) and with same (predicted
r %), traffic growth rate used for the design
(i.e. CNSA supposed to be carried during the
rest of the life).

Scenario 2:
Calculation of CNSA using design data (ADT
& ESA values used for the design) and with
actual traffic growth rate calculated.

Scenario 3:
ADT & ESA values) and with actual traffic
growth rate calculated.

6. Analysis of Results
ADT data at the design stage is essential to
calculate the traffic growth rate. There were
many road designs, which could not be
selected, as some of the necessary information
was not given in the design reports. The
inclusion of ADT and ESA values at the
design stage are very important. Key
information should be given not only for
research studies of this nature, but also for the
correct engineering application at the time of
pavement construction.
Specially, under this study, other problems
encountered were the non availability of date
of design and anticipated period of
construction. These two dates or the years are
required to calculate the CNSA values under
different scenarios. Therefore, collected data
were analyzed with respect to the particular
road section in the following manner;
a) Comparison of actual traffic growth rates
against the predicted rate using ADT &
MCC data.

b) Comparison of ESA values used for the
design with the recent ESA values.
c) Comparison of cumulative number of
standard axles (CNSA) calculated under
three different scenarios against the design
cumulative number of standard axle.
6.1 Comparison of Actual Traffic Growth
Rates
The calculated traffic growth factors for local
funded roads are given in Table 1. Growth
rates for the medium and heavy goods
vehicles used for the design and the actual
values are shown in figure 2. For the local
funded roads, the predicted traffic growth rate
used for the designs was 5%, except for the
DehiwalaMaharagama road for which 10%
growth rate has been selected.
The calculated traffic growth factors for ADB
funded roads are tabulated in Table 2. Three
different growth factors have been used for the
calculation of CNSA at the design stage.
These growth factors have been derived from
the analysis done in the feasibility study. They
are as follows;
i) Growth factor for the period, up to
and including the year 2010.

ii) Growth factor for the period, from the
year 2011 to the end of the design life.

iii) Growth factor for generated traffic at
completion of the road.

Similarly, actual growth factors for each
vehicle category was calculated for the period
between the operation of new surface and the
end of design life using the ADT data collected
from Planning Division of RDA. Growth
factors for large and articulated trucks of the
ADB funded road sections are shown in Figure
3.
-8.0
0.0
8.0
16.0
24.0
32.0
40.0
P
ili
.-
M
a
h
.
S
e
e
d
-
U
d
u
.
C
G
H
W
_
B
a
l.
W
il
l.G
o
p
o
.
C
G
H
W
_
D
o
d
.
M
a
w
.B
y
p
a
s
s
D
e
h
i
.-
m
a
h
.
Road section
G
r
o
w
t
h

R
a
t
e
Predict
M.Good
H.Good

Figure 2 - Traffic growth rates of medium goods
vehicles and heavy vehicles on local funded roads
21
ENGINEER

ENGINEER 5

-20
-15
-10
-5
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
P
e
l.-M
a
d
a
m
.
W
e
e
r.-T
is
s
a
M
a
l.-T
im
b
o
l.
T
is
s
a
-K
'g
a
m
a
D
ic
k
.-B
e
li.
A
m
b
.-E
lp
iti.
P
a
n
a
.-B
a
n
d
a
r.
K
a
tu
.-K
'g
a
la
G
a
m
.-N
a
w
a
.
Road
G
r
o
w
t
h

r
a
t
e
Predict
Large Truck
Art. Truck

Figure 3 - Traffic growth rates of large trucks
and articulated trucks- ADB funded roads
Predicted growth factor for the medium bus
was 8.9% for the period up to 2010 and it was
7% between 2011 and the end of the design
life, for all the roads except on the Katugastota
Kurunegala Road. For that road section, it
was 7.3% and 5.7% respectively. For the large
bus, predicted growth factor for the period up
to 2010 was 5.2% and it was 4% for the period
between 2011 and end of the design life,
whereas for the Katugastota Kurunegala
Road, it was 4.2% & 3.3% respectively. Actual
growth factor calculated for medium bus is
negative for all the roads in the selected set of
roads except on the Gampola Nawalapitiya
Road which is 1.7%. The actual growth factor
for large bus is greater than the predicted
growth factor. The reason for the above
observations is that passenger transport
regulations have imposed a ban on small
buses on the roads and to replace them with
large buses.
For the small trucks, predicted growth factor
for the respective periods are 9.8% and 7.7%
except on the Katugastota Kurunegala Road
(i.e. it is 5.5% and 4.3%). It seems that the
actual growth factor for small trucks are
higher than predicted rates, whilst it is less
than the predicted growth rates for large
trucks. It was expected that the usage of three
axle trucks and articulated trucks would be
increasing at and above 5.0% rate, over its
design life, on the road sections once those are
improved or rehabilitated. The results show
that the actual growth factors for both three
axle and articulated trucks are significantly
higher than predicted growth rates except for
a couple of road sections. This has been
proved statistically, that there is a significance
difference at the 5% significance level between
the actual and predicted growth rates for both
3-axle and articulated trucks.
Predicted growth factor for the medium bus
was 8.9% for the period up to 2010 and it was
7% between 2011 and the end of the design
life, for all the roads where on the Katugastota
Kurunegala Road. For that road section, it
was 7.3% and 5.7% respectively. For the large
bus, predicted growth factor for the period up
to 2010 was 5.2% and it was 4% for the period
between 2011 and end of the design life,
whereas for the Katugastota Kurunegala
Road, it was 4.2% & 3.3% respectively. Actual
growth factor calculated for medium bus is
negative for all the roads in the selected set of
roads except on the Gampola Nawalapitiya
Road which is 1.7%. The actual growth factor
for large bus is greater than the predicted
growth factor. The reason for the above
observations is that, passenger transport
regulations have imposed a ban on small
buses on the roads and to replace them with
large buses. The negative growth factors are
rarely obtained (as shown in Figures 2 & 3)
when the recorded count for a particular type
of vehicle is less than the previous year/years
count for same.
For the small trucks, predicted growth factor
for the respective periods are 9.8% and 7.7%
except on the Katugastota Kurunegala Road
(i.e. it is 5.5% and 4.3%). It seems that the
actual growth factors for small trucks are
higher than predicted rates, whilst it is less
than predicted growth rates for large trucks. It
has been expected that the usage of three axle
trucks and articulated trucks would be
increasing at and above 5.0% rate, over its
design life, on the road sections once those are
improved or rehabilitated. The results show
that the actual growth factors for both three
axle and articulated trucks are significantly
higher than predicted growth rates except for
a couple of road sections. This has been
proved statistically, that there is a significance
difference at the 5% significance level between
the actual and predicted growth rates for both
3-axle and articulated trucks.
6.2 Comparison of ESA Values
The ESA values obtained from recent axle load
surveys for the different vehicle categories, for
the local funded road links are tabulated in
Table 3. ESA values of medium and heavy
goods vehicles used for the design and the
actual values of same for the local funded
roads are shown in Figure 4.
ENGINEER
22

ENGINEER 6

As discussed previously, small buses on the
road links are significantly less and hence, the
Planning Division of RDA is reluctant to
measure axle loads of small buses. Hence,
most of the time, ESA values are not measured
for small buses. ESA values of large buses
seem to be almost equal to the ESA values
recorded at the design stage. It has been
statistically proved using 5% level of
significance that the ESA values measured
during recent axle load surveys for the
medium goods vehicles and for the heavy
goods vehicles are significantly higher
compared to the values used at the design
stage. This is an important finding in respect
of the pavement strength as the damaging
effect for the pavement is more than four times
when ESA exceeds the value one.
0.00
2.00
4.00
6.00
8.00
10.00
P
ili.-
M
a
h
.
S
e
e
d
-U
d
u
.
C
G
H
W
_
B
a
l.
W
ill.G
o
p
o
.
C
G
H
W
_
D
o
d
.
M
a
w
a
.B
y
p
a
s
s
D
e
h
i.-m
a
h
.
Road section
E
S
A
Design-M.Good Actual-M.Good
Design-H.Good Actual-H.Good

Figure 4 - ESA values of medium and Heavy
goods vehicles - local funded roads
The ESA values calculated from the
measurements taken during axle load surveys
carried out in the recent past, for the different
vehicle categories, for the ADB funded road
links are tabulated in Table 4. ESA values used
for the design and the actual values for large
and articulated trucks are shown in Figure 5.
0.00
1.00
2.00
3.00
4.00
5.00
6.00
7.00
8.00
9.00
P
e
l.-M
a
d
a
m
.
W
e
e
r.-T
is
s
a
M
a
l.-T
im
b
o
l.
T
is
s
a
-K
'g
a
m
a
D
ic
k
.-B
e
li.
A
m
b
.-E
lp
iti.
P
a
n
a
.-B
a
n
d
a
r.
K
a
tu
.-K
'g
a
la
G
a
m
.-N
a
w
a
.
Road section
E
S
A
Design-L.Truck Actual-L.Truck
Design-3Axl.Truck Actual-3Axl.Truck

Figure 5 - ESA Values of Large & Articulated
Trucks- ADB Funded Roads

Item
No.
Road Name Status Vehicle Category
Mediu
m Bus
Large
Bus
Large
Goods
veh
Medium
Goods
veh
Heavy
Goods
veh
Cars
1
Piliyandala - Maharagama Rd.
Predicted 5.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 5.0
Actual 6.0 2.4 0.6 1.0 12.2 0.1
2
Seeduwa - Udugampola Rd.
Predicted 5.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 5.0
Actual -10.2 0.5 0.6 12.0 6.7 -
3
CGHW Road at Balapitiya
Predicted 5.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 5.0
Actual -7.2 4.7 1.1 6.2 26.1 -
4
William Gopallawa Mw. Kdy.
Predicted 5.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 5.0
Actual -20.8 3.9 -7.6 -3.0 0.9 -
5
CGHW Road at Dodanduwa
Predicted 5.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 5.0
Actual -1.0 2.2 -2.3 3.5 12.8 -
6
Mawanella Bypass
Predicted 5.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 5.0
Actual -9.2 -12.3 -7.6 4.3 35.0 -
7
Dehiwala - Maharagama Rd.
Predicted 10.0 10.0 10.0 10.0 10.0 10.0
Actual -29.4 4.9 -13.3 -4.1 9.4 -
Table 1 Traffic Growth Factors Local Funded Roads
23
ENGINEER

ENGINEER 7

Item
No.
Road Name Stage
Vehicle Category
Medium
Bus
Large
Bus
Small
Truck
Large
Truck
3-Axle
truck
Articu.
Truck
1
Pelmadulla-Madampe
Road (C-11)
upto 2010 8.90 5.20 9.80 6.70 7.10 7.10
2011-End 7.00 4.00 7.70 5.20 5.50 6.60
Actual -6.80 16.10 10.70 0.40 7.60 3.40
2
Weerawila-Kataragama
(C-10,1)
upto 2010 8.90 5.20 9.80 6.70 7.10 7.10
2011-End 7.00 4.00 7.70 5.20 5.50 6.60
Actual -6.50 -3.60 -12.60 3.00 13.20 23.80
3
Malwatte,Gwela to
Timbolketiya Rd.(C-13)
upto 2010 8.90 5.20 9.80 6.70 7.10 7.10
2011-End 7.00 4.00 7.70 5.20 5.50 6.60
Actual -9.90 8.20 8.70 2.10 18.90 18.90
4
Tissa-Kataragama
(C-10,2)
upto 2010 8.90 5.20 9.80 6.70 7.10 7.10
2011-End 7.00 4.00 7.70 5.20 5.50 6.60
Actual -11.60 4.00 4.20 -1.60 12.20 12.20
5
Dickwella-Beliatta
(C-10,3)
upto 2010 8.90 5.20 9.80 6.70 7.10 7.10
2011-End 7.00 4.00 7.70 5.20 5.50 6.60
Actual -8.20 7.40 18.40 2.60 29.90 16.10
6
Ambalangoda-Elpitiya
(C-5)
upto 2010 8.90 5.20 9.80 6.70 7.10 7.10
2011-End 7.00 4.00 7.70 5.20 5.50 6.60
Actual -10.60 6.90 10.40 6.30 27.80 16.1
7
Panadura-Rathnapura
Rd. (C-3)
upto 2010 8.90 5.20 9.80 6.70 7.10 7.10
2011-End 7.00 4.00 7.70 5.20 5.50 6.60
Actual -8.80 15.70 12.70 6.60 24.6 14.9
8
Katugastota-Kurunegala
(C-7)
upto 2010 7.30 4.20 8.00 5.50 5.80 5.80
2011-End 5.70 3.30 6.30 4.30 4.50 5.40
Actual -7.30 9.80 8.80 2.50 13.40 10.50
9
Gampola-Nawalapitiya
(C-8)
upto 2010 8.90 5.20 9.80 6.70 7.10 7.10
2011-End 7.00 4.00 7.70 6.30 6.60 7.90
Actual 1.70 11.80 10.30 11.70 2.60 -
Table 2 Traffic Growth Factors ADB Funded Roads
ENGINEER
24

ENGINEER 8

Item
No.
Road Name Stage
Vehicle Category
Medium
Bus
Large
Bus
Small
Truck
L.Truc
k
3-Axle
truck
Articu.
Truck
1
Pelmadulla-Madampe
Road (C-11)
Design 0.045 0.146 0.035 2.323 0.867 1.001
Current 0.007 0.340 0.048 8.465 2.850 4.480
2
Weerawila-Kataragama
(C-10,1)
Design 0.037 0.193 0.152 0.465 0.867 1.001
Current - 0.368 0.003 5.215 1.865 6.166
3
Malwatte,Godakawela to
Timbolketiya Road (C-13)
Design 0.045 0.146 0.035 2.323 0.867 1.001
Current 0.007 0.340 0.048 8.465 2.850 4.480
4
Tissa-Kataragama (C-10,2)
Design 0.037 0.193 0.152 0.465 0.867 1.001
Current - 0.368 0.003 5.215 1.865 6.166
5
Dickwella-Beliatta
(C-10,3)
Design 0.026 0.076 0.008 0.282 0.867 1.001
Current 0.021 0.439 0.096 6.238 4.987 -
6
Ambalangoda-Elpitiya
(C-5)
Design 0.016 0.057 0.011 0.810 0.867 1.001
Current 0.017 0.376 0.309 6.285 7.714 -
7
Panadura-Rathnapura
Road (C-3)
Design 0.065 0.216 0.093 3.224 0.867 1.001
Current 0.020 0.438 0.222 5.163 7.250 9.136
8
Katugastota-Kurunegala
(C-7)
Design 0.115 0.450 0.162 4.115 0.867 1.001
Current 0.033 0.620 0.220 2.670 8.640 14.900
9
Gampola-Nawalapitiya
(C-8)
Design 0.080 0.331 0.071 1.981 0.867 1.001
Current 0.034 0.432 0.165 2.190 3.418 5.886

Item
No.
Road Name Stage
Vehicle Category
Medium
Bus
Large
Bus
Large
Goods
Veh
Medium
Goods
veh
Heavy
Goods
veh.
1
Piliyandala - Maharagama Road
Design 0.013 0.444 0.003 0.229 -
Current - 0.400 0.321 3.181 8.090
2
Seeduwa - Udugampola road
Design 0.049 0.200 0.045 0.370 0.640
Current - 0.400 0.321 1.860 9.843
3
CGHW Road at Balapitiya
Design 0.019 0.329 0.176 0.918 1.925
Current 0.020 0.438 - 4.220 8.141
4
William Gopallawa Mw. Kandy
Design 0.103 0.704 0.036 1.316 6.728
Current - 0.580 0.003 3.537 4.578
5
CGHW Road at Dodanduwa
Design 0.019 0.329 0.176 0.918 1.925
Current 0.017 0.376 0.001 2.509 7.000
6
Mawanella Bypass
Design 0.020 0.400 0.176 0.918 0.000
Current 0.169 0.400 0.010 0.864 5.950
7
Dehiwala - Maharagama Road
Design 0.170 0.320 0.010 1.680 2.450
Current 0.013 0.370 0.105 2.563 8.290
Table 4 ESA Values Foreign Funded Roads

Table 3 ESA Values Locally Funded Roads

25
ENGINEER

ENGINEER 9

Similarly, in the local funded road links, ESA
values recorded for the medium bus is less
than the ESA values recorded at the design
stage. However, ESA values of large buses
and small trucks are slightly higher than the
ESA values recorded at the design stage. It has
been statistically proved that the ESA values
of large trucks are significantly high compared
to the values recorded at the design stage. This
is a very important fact, mainly because of the
number of large trucks using; A & B class
roads are generally high and thereby create a
tendency to damage the pavement structure
before the end of its design life.
It has also been statistically proved that recent
ESA values calculated for the three axle trucks
and articulated trucks are significantly high
compared to the ESA values at design stage.
However, this may not be a fact that can be
highlighted as the ESA values used for the
design are default values. These default ESA
values have been applied when the total
number of a particular vehicle type was less
than 10. This default ESA factor was
calculated from the average measured values
on roads where the number of vehicles
weighed was greater than 10.
6.3 Comparison of Cumulative Number of
Standard Axle (CNSA) Values
As discussed in the Methodology, Cumulative
Number of Standard Axles (CNSA) that would
carry or supposed to carry over the
rehabilitated or improved pavement were
calculated under three (03) different scenarios.

Scenario 1 associates the present condition of
traffic and it gives an indication as to what
would be the result if the present condition of
traffic continues at the predicted rate. It also
indicates that, for the 90% of the selected road
sections, the CNSA of scenario 1 is higher than
the design CNSA.

Scenario 2 associates the design data and the
actual growth rates, and it is applied over the
actual design life. Its CNSA values are almost
close to the design CNSA.

Scenario 3 represents the present condition of
traffic and also the actual growth rate. The
CNSA values of it are higher compared to the
design CNSA.

Comparison of CNSA values calculated under
each scenario against the designed CNSA, is
done for the local funded roads and for ADB
funded roads separately
The CNSA values calculated under each
scenario for the local funded roads are shown
in the Table 5. The relevant traffic class with
respect to the CNSA value and its traffic class
is also given for each road section for
comparison purposes. As shown in Table 5,
except for the two roads section (i.e. William
Gopallawa Mawatha, Kandy and Mawanella
Bypass Road) traffic class of Scenario-1 is
higher than the design traffic class.

It also shows that the traffic class of Scenario-3
is higher than that of design traffic class,
except for the William Gopallawa Mawatha
and Dehiwala-Maharagama roads.

As discussed earlier, the ADT used for the
design of William Gopallawa Mawatha road
was over estimated. For the Dehiwala
Maharagama road, the predicted traffic
growth rate for the design is twice compared
to others (i.e. r = 10%). These are the probable
reasons for the above two exceptions.

A similar analysis could be done for the ADB
funded roads too, as per the results shown in
Table 6. Except for two road sections, the
traffic class of Scenario-3 is higher than that of
design traffic class. The CNSA values
calculated under each Scenario for the ADB
funded roads are shown in Table 6.

ENGINEER
26

ENGINEER 12

Table 5 CNSA Values of Each Scenario Local Funded Roads

Table 6 CNSA Values of Each Scenario ADB Funded Roads

Road Name
P
e
l
m
a
d
u
l
l
a
-
M
a
d
a
m
p
e

R
o
a
d

(
C
1
1
)

W
e
e
r
a
w
i
l
a

T
i
s
s
a

[
C
1
0
(
1
)
]

D
i
c
k
w
e
l
l
a

B
e
l
i
a
t
t
a

(
C
1
0
)

A
m
b
a
l
a
n
g
o
d
a

E
l
p
i
t
i
y
a

(
C
5
)

P
a
n
a
d
u
r
a

R
a
t
h
n
a
p
u
r
a

(
C
3
)

K
a
t
u
g
a
s
t
o
t
a

K
u
r
u
n
e
g
a
l
a

(
C
7
)

G
a
m
p
o
l
a

N
a
w
a
l
a
p
i
t
i
y
a

(
C
8
)

T
i
s
s
a

K
a
t
a
r
a
g
a
m
a

[
C
1
0
(
2
)
]

M
a
l
w
a
t
t
e
-
T
i
m
b
o
l
k
e
t
i
y
a

R
o
a
d

(
C
1
3
)

CNSA
Design
4.98
(T5)
0.34
(T2)
0.0
(T1)
0.0
(T1)
8.88
(T6)
8.67
(T6)
5.00
(T5)
0.48
(T2)
3.9 (T5)
CNSA
Scenario-1
9.66
(T6)
1.49
(T3)
3.13
(T5)
4.48
(T5)
16.57
(T7)
6.8
(T6)
11.53
(T7)
0.9
(T3)
8.25 (T6)
CNSA
Scenario-2
3.21
(T5)
0.12
(T1)
0.0
(T1)
0.0
(T1)
6.98
(T6)
8.16
(T6)
7.39
(T6)
0.0
(T1)
2.62 (T4)
CNSA
Scenario-3
10.47
(T7)
1.1
(T3)
6.47
(T6)
9.48
(T6)
--
8.17
(T6)
18.48
(T8)
0.89
(T3)
7.65 (T6)

Road Name
P
i
l
i
y
a
n
d
a
l
a

M
a
h
a
r
a
g
a
m
a

S
e
e
d
u
w
a

-

U
d
u
g
a
m
p
o
l
a

C
G
H
W
(
1
)

B
a
l
a
p
i
t
i
y
a

W
i
l
l
i
a
m

G
o
p
a
l
l
a
w
a

M
w
.
,

K
a
n
d
y

C
G
H
W

(
2
)

-

D
o
d
a
n
d
u
w
a

M
a
w
a
n
e
l
l
e

-

B
y
p
a
s
s

D
e
h
i
w
a
l
a

M
a
h
a
r
a
g
a
m
a

CNSA designed
0.75
(T3)
0.73
(T3)
3.9
(T5)
7.35
(T6)
3.6
(T5)
8.8
(T6)
9.65
(T6)
CNSA
Scenario-1
0.92(T4) 8.61(T6) 10.15(T7) 7.23(T6) 6.8(T6) 5.22(T5)
12.9
(T7)
CNSA
Scenario-2
0.83(T3) 1.18(T3) 2.69(T4) 5.4(T5) 3.61(T5) 5.56(T5)
6.09
(T6)
CNSA
Scenario-3
13.68(T7) 14.27(T7) 14.67(T7) 5.91(T5) 7.23(T6) 15.08(T7)
9.57
(T6)
27
ENGINEER

ENGINEER 10

7. Conclusion
In this research study, flexible pavement
designs of recently rehabilitated or improved
set of roads were analyzed to check the
effectiveness of the traffic forecasting on
pavement design. As the sub-grade strength
of the pavements is a fixed parameter in all the
cases, the only possible variable is the Traffic
Class relevant to predicted CNSA. In order to
test the reliability of the prediction of CNSA,
the three Scenarios discussed above, were
selected
It is better to look back at the three Scenarios
discussed above.
Scenario 1:
Calculation of CNSA (Cumulative Number of
Standard Axles) using recent data (i.e. recent
ESA & ADT) and with same traffic growth rate
used for the design.(CNSA supposed to carry
during the rest of the life)
Scenario 2:
Calculation of CNSA using design data (ESA
& ADT used for the design) and with actual
traffic growth rate.

Scenario 3:
ESA & ADT) and with actual traffic growth
rate.

The above Scenarios were selected based on
the ESA and ADT data. Recent ADT data
and design MCC / ADT are associated in the
actual traffic growth rates.

Following conclusions were made with respect
to the actual traffic growth rate and the ESA
comparison of each vehicle category.

It was observed that at or above 5% growth
rates were predicted for both medium buses
and large buses. The actual traffic growth rate
of medium buses was recorded as a negative
rate and also for the large buses; actual growth
rate is generally less than 5%. The probable
reasons for these findings were discussed
above.
It can also be concluded that the growth rate of
heavy goods vehicles are higher than the
predicted rate. So, this study shows that there
is an increasing trend of commercial vehicles
on the roads. It has also been shown and
statistically proved that the ESA values
actually applied on these pavements by large
trucks / heavy goods vehicles are significantly
high, compared to the ESA values recorded at
the design stage. This could be an important
factor that should be taken into account in the
design of pavements as the damaging effect of
the pavement increases heavily as the number
of heavy vehicles increased. In order, that the
pavement designs of the selected road sections
to be effective, the above factors or the
findings should be reflected in the designs.

Therefore, the most appropriate Scenario
which incorporates all the key factors
identified above has to be selected out of the
three Scenarios to test the effectiveness of
traffic forecasting of the selected set of roads.
As such, it can be concluded that Scenario-3
is the most appropriate one to test the
effectiveness of traffic forecasting on
pavement designs.

For twelve road sections, out of sixteen
(i.e.75%), the traffic class related to Scenario-3
is higher than the design traffic class. Hence, it
can be concluded that 75% of the selected road
designs are under designed.

Following recommendations are made in
respect of the conclusions made.
i) More emphasis should be given to the
estimation of percentage of commercial
trucks (heavy goods vehicles).
It is possible that this percentage could
substantially change during the period
between the actual traffic count and the
time of construction.

ii) It is recommended to use more realistic
traffic growth rates which are calculated
based on the latest ADT data.

iii) As there will be a gap of two to three
years or more between the year of
design and the year of construction, it is
recommended to
re-evaluate the pavement design prior
to the construction of a particular road
or the section of road concerned with
the latest information available.

In order to facilitate the above, following
important aspects are proposed to be included
in the design report at the design stage.
a) Year / Date of design should be
Indicated.
b) Sub-grade class of each section of road
should be indicated.
ENGINEER
28

ENGINEER 11

c) ESA values of each vehicle category used
for the design should be indicated
d) Year of ADT / MCC ,expansion factors
Used for computation of ADT (if
any)and year of axle data should be
stated.
e) Predicted year of operation of road
pavement should be stated.
f) Design report should be consistent
(standard).

Due to the non availability of adequate data
this study was restricted to a few road
sections. It is noted that, to improve the
pavement designs, this should be analysed
further. Future studies should include the
selection of more road sections, provided the
necessary data is available, and using this
study as a foundation to build on.

References
1) Highway Research Board. The AASHO Road
Test. Repot 5, Pavement Research Highway
Research Board Special Report No. 61E
National Research Council, Washington DC.
1962.
2) Paterson, W.D.O., Road Deterioration and
Maintenance Effects: Models for Planning and
Management. The Highway Design and
Maintenance Standards Series. The
International Bank for Reconstruction and
Development, Washington DC,1987.
3) DOE, Road Research Laboratory Road Note 31,
Fourth Edition, A Guide to the Structural
Design of Bitumen-surfaced roads in Tropical
and Sub-tropical Countries 1993.
4) Millard, R. S., Road Building in the Tropics
Transport Research Laboratory, Department of
Transport, UK. State of the Art Review 9, 1993
PP 231 251.
5) Howe, J.D.G.F., A Review of Rural Traffic
Counting Methods in Developing Countries,
RRL Report LR 427, Road Research Laboratory,
Crowthorne, 1972.
6) Road Development Authority, A Guide to
the Structural Design of Roads under Sri Lanka
Conditions, 1999.
7) Road Development Authority, Standard
Specifications for Construction and
Maintenance of Roads and Bridges, 1989.
8) Liddle, W.J., Application of AASHO Road
Test Results to the Design of Flexible Pavement
Structures. First International Conference on
the Structural Design of Asphalt Pavements,
University of Michigan, 20-24 August 1962,
Anm Arbor, Michigan, 1962 (University of
Michigan)
section ii
29
ENGINEER
ENGINEER - Vol. XXXXIV, No. 04, pp, [28-35], 2011

ENGINEER 1
Comparison of Rational Formula Alternatives for
Streamflow Generation for Small Ungauged
Catchments

W.M.D.Wijesinghe and N.T.S.Wijesekera

Abstract: A Unit Hydrograph can be derived using the peak discharge obtained from the
Rational Equation and using unit depth of rainfall in calculating the Rainfall Intensity. Possible
alternatives for selection of sub catchments, selection of a guideline to determine the Runoff
Coefficients and the Time of Concentration were taken into account. A significant variation of the
results was observed with the selected alternatives. In order to select a better alternative comparison
of generated streamflows with the observed values is required. Unit hydrograph derivation using the
Rational method would yield a lesser peak flow value and a higher time to peak when spatially
distributed approach using sub catchments is used instead of a lumped single catchment The
guideline used for determination of Runoff coefficients plays very important role in Rational Method
and it showed considerable variation of the results in Welipenna River Basin. The time of
concentration estimation method is also important when the catchments become larger. In the
Welipenna River Basin the Lumped Parameter method of deriving Unit Hydrograph taking Runoff
Coefficient from based on Slope, Land Use and Soil Type with Tc from ID Guidelines a Qp estimate of
0.49m
3
/s, while the peakflow estimate computed with the distributed parameter method using sub
catchments was 0.51m
3
/s.

Keywords: Rational Equation, Runoff Coefficients, Time of Concentration

1. Introduction

Majority of the Infrastructure development
projects in Sri Lanka often require engineers to
work in ungauged catchments. When it is
needed to carry out flow estimations for such
ungauged catchments, the common method is
to determine streamflows using Synthetic
means. In the absence of flow data there are
many methods for the development of
Synthetic Unit Hydrograph (UH).

Rational Method is a popular method for
estimating peakflows. Once the Rational
Method computes the peak discharge from a
particular watershed, the Direct Runoff
Hydrograph (DRH) computations can be
carried out using Ponrajah, 1984 [1]. In these
calculations, Rainfall Intensity is required for
computing peak discharge. This DRH becomes
UH when a unit depth of rainfall is used for the
determination of the rainfall intensity.

This UH from Rational Method defers due to
the methods used. There are several methods to
compute the Time of Concentration (Tc) and
there are many ways to delineate the sub
watersheds.

Wijesekera, 2000 [2] applied Rational method
for nineteen watershed that contribute to
Colombo Harbour for computing peak flows. In
that study comparison of runoff coefficients
computed based on tabulated values from
handbooks, sample areas and remote sensing
data had resulted in a common coefficient value
in the case of Colombo Harbour.

Batuwitage, Manchanayake and
Wickramasuriya, 1986 [3] also applied Rational
Equation for 16 catchments in order to calculate
peak discharge. In that study they have also
used the Method Recommended by Ponrajah,
1984 [1], Kirpich Equation and Bransby-William
Equation, for computing Time of
Concentration. In the said study it has been
generally observed that the estimated values for
the design flood taking the time of
concentration from the Kirpich Equation and
Bransby-William Equation are high when

W.M.D.Wijesinghe, B.Sc. Eng. (Moratuwa), Research
Assistant, Department of Civil Engineering, University of
Moratuwa, Sri Lanka
Eng. (Prof.) N.T.S.Wijesekera, B.Sc. Eng. (Sri Lanka),
C. Eng., FIE(Sri Lanka), M. Eng. (Tokyo), D. Eng. (Tokyo),
Senior Professor of Civil Engineering, Department of Civil
Engineering, University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka

ENGINEER
30

ENGINEER 2
compared to the values from Statistical
Methods. In the same study the Kirpich
equation was found to give lower values for the
time of concentration than the Bransby-William
Equation for all the catchments and hence the
former gives higher rainfall intensity and
consequently higher flood peak. A noteworthy
feature observed in the study was that the
estimated flood peaks are comparable to those
obtained using statistical methods.
Discrepancies between the results obtained
from the two methods are less for smaller
catchments than for larger catchments. For the
smaller catchments the agreement between the
two sets of results may be due to the fact that
Ponrajah, 1984 [1] recommends the use of
velocity estimates based on slope, for
determining the time of concentration. In that
paper it is recommended that one should note
that the method of Ponrajah, 1984 [1] and the
Rational Method in general are intended for
smaller catchment areas less than about 25 km
2
.
In the study it has been seen that the method
used for the determination of time of
concentration is vital and has very considerable
effect on the design flood estimate.

In design flood estimation the approach is to
develop Unit Hydrograph (UH) for the
considered watershed and then use for the
generation of streamflows for a considered
design return period.

2. Objective

The present study focuses on applying the
Rational Formula for a small watershed to
check the variations that would occur due to
various alternative ways of application.
The specific objectives of the study are to assess
The options for governing equations
The alternatives for selecting parameters
The alternatives for selecting sub
catchments
Figure 1 - Study Area and Associated Sub Catchments
Aluthgama
Southern Expressway
Point of Interest
Matugama
Matugama
Sub Catchment
Numbers are
Indicated inside
Each Sub
Catchment
Road B3
Road B8
31
ENGINEER

ENGINEER 3
3. Study Area

The study was carried out for the watershed of
Welipenna Ganga, which is a tributary of
Bentota Ganga, at its intersection point with the
Southern Expressway near the Welipenna
Interchange of the said Expressway, which has
a drainage area of 121km
2
. This watershed is an
ungauged watershed which causes flooding at
the intersection after the construction of a
drainage structure. As part of the effort to find
solutions for flooding, the investigation of
peakflow estimation at this catchment was
undertaken. The catchment is in a rural setting
with land uses of paddy, forest, scrubs and
commercial cultivations of rubber, tea and
coconut with smaller urban area. There are no
reservoirs or other significant water storages
within the basin or water diversions from or
into the watershed. Field visits were
undertaken to observe the watershed and its
drainage characteristics. 1:10,000 topographic
maps of the Survey Department of Sri Lanka
were used for calculation of catchment
parameters.

The watershed could be divided into seven sub
catchments, considering the major tributaries of
and the main watercourse (Figure 1).
Parameters required for the calculations
extracted from the main watershed and each
sub watershed are presented in Table 1.
Catchment slopes were determined considering
the elevation difference of the highest and
lowest points of the longest stream, H of each
sub catchment.

4. Methodology

4.1 Approach
In this approach it is assumed that the peak
discharge is observed after Tc duration, where
Tc is the time of concentration for the watershed
and in computing peak discharge the rainfall
intensity is assumed to be constant within Tc
duration. Since the Unit Hydrograph (UH) is
derived for a unit depth of rainfall over certain
duration the rainfall intensity was calculated
assuming one inch rainfall over Tc duration. A
curvilinear UH was obtained for each case
using the dimensionless coefficients given in
Irrigation Department (ID) Guidelines [4] and
the co-ordinates of the Unit Hydrographs were
then modified so that the area under the curve
is unity.

The main parameters required to determine the
UH for a particular watershed are, Runoff
Coefficients (RC), Tc and the area of the
watershed.

4.2 Alternatives for Selecting Runoff
Coefficients
RC computations were determined using three
guidelines. Runoff coefficients were calculated
based on
Guideline 1 slope [1]
Guideline 2 Land Use [5]
Guideline 3 Slope, Land Use and
Hydrologic Soil Type [6].

4.3 Options for Governing Equations
The equations in references were used to
calculate the time of concentration.

Irrigation Department (ID) Guidelines [1],
Tc=L/(60V)+15 .(1)
Where L= Longest stream length (feet)
V= Flow Velocity obtained
from ID Guidelines (feet/s)

Kirpich Equation [5]
Tc = 0.0078L
0.77
S
-0.385
.... (2)
Where L= Longest stream length (feet)
S= Watershed Slope (feet/feet)

Bransby-William (B-W) Formula [7].
.. (3)
Where L= Longest stream length (km)
S= Watershed Slope (m/km)
A= Watershed Area (km
2
)

4.4 Spatial Variation of Sub Catchments
For the comparative assessment, three cases
were considered.

Case 1 Peakflow estimations were made
considering the entire drainage area for the
considered location as a single lumped unit.

Case 2 The peakflow computations for each
sub-catchment was carried out considering that
the sub watershed outlet is the point at which a
sub-watershed would drain to the main stream
while assuming that flow taking place along the
mainstream subsequent to the joining, would
not have any effect on the estimations.

Case 3 Peakflow estimations were carried out
considering that runoff generation of a
particular watershed would be limited to the
drainage area determined by the point at which
the sub-watershed joins the main stream but
ENGINEER
32

ENGINEER 4
time of concentration depends on the stream
length within the sub-watershed added to the
main-stream length after the point of entry and
the outlet of main watershed.

5. Data

Land Use types and their percentages were
extracted from 1:50,000 maps. As per the
General Soil Map for Sri Lanka [8] the soil type
found within the catchment is Red Yellow
Podzolic Soil. From the soil description given in
the map it is reasonable to assume the
Hydrologic soil type to be of Group B.

Table 1 - Details of Main Catchment and Sub Catchments

Table 2 Land Use Areas in Each Catchment
in km
2

U
r
b
a
n

P
a
d
d
y

F
o
r
e
s
t

S
c
r
u
b

T
e
a
,

R
u
b
b
e
r
,

C
o
c
o
n
u
t

Entire Catchment 4 3.99 14.25 9.79 7.04
Sub Catchment 1 2.03 6.05 0.99 0.19 29.24
Sub Catchment 2 1.96 3.43 1.95 0.3 17.57
Sub Catchment 3 0 3.33 6.61 6.08 31.02
Sub Catchment 4 0 0.53 0.23 0.31 1.45
Sub Catchment 5 0 0.27 0 0 2.13
Sub Catchment 6 0 0.63 0 0.15 1.7
Sub Catchment 7 0 0.63 0 0.15 1.7

Table 3 - Runoff Coefficients Calculated
Using Three Alternatives
Main/Sub
Catchment Slope
Land
Use
Slope,
Land
Use, Soil
Main 0.3 0.19 0.16
Sub Catchment 1 0.30 0.22 0.16

6. Results
Table 4 shows the results from the Tc
calculations for the main watershed and sub
watersheds for the three equations used. Figure
2 indicates a plot of peak discharges versus
time to peak of the UH from each option of
selecting RC and Tc. Figure 3 gives the UH from
the options of sub watershed delineation.
Results from all the computations are
summarised in Table 5.

Table 4 - Time of Concentration Calculated
Using Three Methods in Hours for Each
Catchment

Main/Sub
Catchment ID Kirpich B-W
Main 11.3 3.9 7.2

Main/Sub
Catchment
Area
( km
2
)
Longest Stream
Length, L (km)
Elevation
Difference, H (m)
Slope (%)
Case 1/2 Case 3 Case 1/2 Case 3 Case 1/2 Case 3
Main 122.0 18.1 18.1 150.1 150.1 0.829 0.829
Sub Catchment 1 38.8 11.0 13.6 157.8 158.1 1.435 1.164
Sub Catchment 2 25.2 8.7 13.3 136.2 138.1 1.565 1.038
Sub Catchment 3 49.4 13.5 18.1 148.2 150.1 1.097 0.829
Sub Catchment 4 2.6 2.2 6.3 7.2 6.5 0.267 0.104
Sub Catchment 5 2.4 1.6 3.2 5.2 5.9 0.323 0.182
Sub Catchment 6 2.8 2.6 3.8 5.2 5.6 0.201 0.147
Sub Catchment 7 0.9 1.2 1.4 2.2 3.0 0.189 0.212
33
ENGINEER

ENGINEER 5

Figure 2 Results of Peakflow and Corresponding Time to Peak with Variation of Runoff
Coefficient, Tc estimation method and Method of Watershed Delineation

Figure 3 - UH for Different Watershed Delineation Options
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
1.2
1.4
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
time (hours)
D
i
s
c
h
a
r
g
e

(
m
3
/
s
)
Case 1
Case 2
Case 3
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
4.5
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
Time to Peak (hours)
P
e
a
k

D
i
s
c
h
a
r
g
e

(
m
3
/
s
)
ID
Kirpich
B-W
Case 1
Case 2
Case 3
Slope
Land Use
Slope, Landuse, Soil
ENGINEER
34

ENGINEER 6

Table 5 - Summary of Peak Discharges and Times to Peaks

Qp in m
3
/s with Tc
from ID
T
p

(
h
o
u
r
s
)

Qp in m
3
/s with Tc from
Kirpich
T
p

(
h
o
u
r
s
)

Qp in m
3
/s with Tc from
B-W Formula
T
p

(
h
o
u
r
s
)

S
l
o
p
e

L
a
n
d

U
s
e

S
l
o
p
e
,

L
a
n
d

U
s
e
,

S
o
i
l

S
l
o
p
e

L
a
n
d

U
s
e

S
l
o
p
e
,

L
a
n
d

U
s
e
,

S
o
i
l

S
l
o
p
e

L
a
n
d

U
s
e

S
l
o
p
e
,

L
a
n
d

U
s
e
,

S
o
i
l

Case 1 0.91 0.67 0.49 11.25 2.62 1.92 1.40 3.88 1.43 1.05 0.76 7.13
Case 2 1.21 0.89 0.65 6.75 3.92 2.87 2.09 2.00 1.90 1.39 1.01 4.00
Case 3 0.95 0.70 0.51 9.13 2.91 2.13 1.55 2.88 1.42 1.04 0.76 6.13

7. Discussion

7.1 Runoff Coefficients
Runoff Coefficients based on Guideline 1
(Slope) always gave higher values resulting
higher peak discharges. This is because the
peak discharge was calculated using Rational
Equation and in that equation the peak
discharge is directly proportional to the Runoff
Coefficient, when the other parameters are kept
constant. Guideline 3 (Slope, Land Use and Soil
Type) for selecting Runoff Coefficients can be
considered as the most accurate one compared
to the other two guidelines, since it uses three
criteria for determining runoff coefficients.
Therefore the peak values obtained from the
other two methods were compared with the
results from Guideline 3.

Table 6 - Percentage Variation of the
Peakflows from Guideline 1 and 2 Compared
to the Results from Guideline 3
Tc
Computation
Method
Catchment
Delineation
Method
Guideline
1
Guideline
2
ID
Guidelines
Case 1 85.71 36.73
Case 2 86.15 36.92
Case 3 86.27 37.25
Kirpich
Equation
Case 1 703.57 37.14
Case 2 222.97 37.32
Case 3 489.03 37.42
B-W
Equation
Case 1 410.53 38.16
Case 2 98.02 37.62
Case 3 278.95 36.84

7.2 Time of Concentration and Time to
Peak
Theoretically both Time to Peak and Peak
Discharge are influenced by Time of
Concentration since it is used in both peakflow
estimation and determination of time to peak.
(Figure 2). From Figure 2 it is noticed that there
is a vital effect from the method used to
estimate Time of Concentration to Peak
Discharge and Time to Peak. The Tc values for
the main catchment and each sub catchment
from the three methods are presented in Table
5.
Kirpich Equation resulted in the lowest values
of Tc while ID guidelines resulted in the highest
values of Tc. The values calculated using
Kirpich equation were used as base values for
the determination of the percentage variation of
the values from the other two equations.

Table 7 - Percentage Difference of Tc from ID
and B-W Equations Compared to Tc from
Kirpich Equation
Main/Sub
Catchment
Catchment
Area (m
2
)
% Difference
of Tc with
Kirpich
Equation
ID B-W
Main 122.0 189.7 84.6
Sub 1 38.8 228.6 109.5
Sub 2 25.2 223.5 105.9
Sub 3 49.4 203.6 96.4
Sub 4 2.6 45.5 45.5
Sub 5 2.4 33.3 22.2
Sub 6 2.8 20.0 33.3
Sub 7 0.9 25.0 25.0
As evident in Table 7 the Tc difference between
the Tc values from the three equations reduces
when the catchments become smaller. Sub
Catchment 7, the smallest among the seven sub
catchments,

7.3 Catchment Delineation
It is common knowledge that when lumped
parameter models are replaced by spatially
distributed parameter models then the
computations would be reaching better values
and closer to the reality. Therefore in case of
synthetic unit hydrograph derivation too, when
a drainage area is divided into sub catchments
and computations are carried out, it is expected
35
ENGINEER

ENGINEER 7
that the values thus computed would provide
realistic answers. Watershed streamflow
amount and timing are mostly governed by the
flow taking place over the land surface. The
channel flows are often considered as less time
consuming since the flow is concentrated into
narrow sections and reaching the outlet at a
comparatively less time than the overland
flows. Accordingly in most hydrologic
computations, flow through channel sections is
usually ignored and only the processes within
the rest of the watershed is utilised for
assessments. The Case 2 of the present work is
to simulate a similar situation where a modeller
may opt to ignore the channel length from the
exit of a particular sub watershed up to the
main outlet of the drainage area. The case 3
takes into full account of both the overland flow
and the channel flow components up to the
main drainage outlet. The Case 1 is a typical
lumped modelling approach. From
engineering basics, it is clear that Case 3 would
be the most appropriate approach and that the
Case 1 would be the most simple and quick
approach. The attempt of the present work was
to capture the change in the values of peakflow
and time to peak, when a modeller opts to
either lump the parameters, or carryout a
spatially distributed sub catchment approach or
ignore the stream effects out side of the sub
watersheds.

Table 8 shows the variation of Peakflows and
Time to Peak in Case 2 and 3 with respect to
those of Case 1.

Table 8 Percentage Variation of Peakflows
and Time to Peak in Case 2 and 3 with respect
to those of Case 1.

In the scale of the present case study
watersheds, this work clearly indicates that
there is a significant benefit both in the design
of structures and planning flood warning,
when a modeller opts to perform the synthetic
unit hydrograph computations in a spatially
distributed manner. It is also important to
recognise that if the time taken for water to
flow up to main catchment outlet from each sub
catchment outlet is ignored, then there would
be very high differences in Peak Discharge and
Time to Peak, even for catchments of the
magnitude selected for the present work.

8. Conclusions and
Recommendations

Unit hydrograph Derivation using the
Rational method would yield a lesser
peak flow value and a higher time to
peak when spatially distributed
approach using sub catchments is used
instead of a lumped single catchment
The guideline used for determination
of Runoff coefficients plays very
important role in Rational Method and
it showed considerable variation of the
results in Welipenna River Basin.
The time of concentration estimation
method is also important when the
catchments become larger.
In the Welipenna River Basin the
Lumped Parameter method of deriving
Unit Hydrograph taking Runoff
Coefficient from Guideline 3 and with
Tc from ID Guidelines, resulted in a Qp
estimate of 0.49m
3
/s, while the
peakflow estimate computed with the
distributed parameter method using
sub catchments was 0.51m3/s.

References

1. Ponrajah, A.J.P, Design of Irrigation
Headworks for Small Catchments, 1st Ed.
Irrigation Department, Colombo, 1984.

2. Wijesekra, N.T.S., A Comparison of Peak
Flow Estimates for Small Ungauged Urban
Watersheds, Transactions, Annual Sessions
of the IESL, Institution of Engineers, Sri
Lanka, October 2000.

3. Batuwitage, L.P, Manchanayake, P.,
Wickramasuriya, S.S, Comparative Study
of Some Design Flood Estimation Methods
for Sri Lanka, Engineer, The Journal of
Institution of Engineers of Sri Lanka, Vol: XIV,
No. 03, September 1986.

4. Ponrajah, 1988, Technical Guidelines for
Irrigation Works, 1st Ed. Irrigation
Department, Colombo, 1988.

T
c

E
s
t
i
m
a
t
i
o
n

M
e
t
h
o
d

C
a
t
c
h
m
e
n
t

D
e
l
i
n
e
a
t
i
o
n

M
e
t
h
o
d

Peakflow
T
i
m
e

t
o

P
e
a
k

S
l
o
p
e

L
a
n
d
u
s
e

S
l
o
p
e
,

L
a
n
d
u
s
e
,

S
o
i
l

ID
Guidelines
Case 2 32.97 32.84 32.65 -40.00
Case 3 4.40 4.48 4.08 -18.84
Kirpich
Equation
Case 2 49.62 49.48 49.29 -48.45
Case 3 11.07 10.94 10.71 -25.77
B-W
Formula
Case 2 32.87 32.38 32.89 -43.90
Case 3 -0.70 -0.95 0.00 -14.03
ENGINEER
36

ENGINEER 8
5. Chow, Ven Te, Maidment, David R.,
Mays, Larry W., Applied Hydrology,. Mc
Grow Hill, 1988.

6. Maidment, David R., Applied Hydrology,
Mc Grow Hill, Inc, 1993.

7. Institution of Engineers, Australia,
Australian Rainfall and Runoff, 1977.

8. General Soil Map of Sri Lanka, National
Atlas of Sri Lanka, Survey Department of
Sri Lanka, 1988.

37
ENGINEER

ENGINEER 1

Monitoring of Total Suspended Particles & Toxic Gasses
in Stationary Combustion Systems

K T Jayasinghe
Abstract: A number of unaccounted combustion systems have been operated island wide to meet
various power demands such as electricity generation, product manufacturing, process applications etc.
Such systems differ from each other according to the types of combustion, types of fuel used, capacity etc.
Whether the processing plant/system is small or large, it requires to burn different kinds of fuels to obtain
driving forces. Widely used fuels in the country for these types of combustion systems are coal, heavy oil,
light oil, LP gas, fire wood, bagas, bio gas etc.

All combustion systems emit solid waste (e.g. Ash, Charcoal etc.), gaseous waste (e.g. Suspended
particles, Carbon Monoxide, Carbon Dioxide, Sulphur Dioxide, Nitrogen Dioxide etc) and waste heat
(conduction, convection, radiation etc) as by products during the fuel combustion. Monitoring of such
gaseous waste is more difficult than monitoring of solid wastes and waste heat.

There are standard flue gas emission control systems inbuilt with large capacity combustion systems such
as electricity generation plants, paper/ sugar industries etc. Also, standard monitoring levels are
published by reputed organizations and authorities. However, when renewing the license for setting up a
new plant, especially in the Small & Medium Industries (SMI) it is essential to prove that their combustion
systems are operated under the standard level (i.e. environmental friendly manner). But most of the
owners ; especially SMI holders, have met with difficulties to get the required environmental certificates
due to lack of awareness, non availability of measuring facilities / control mechanisms of old (existing)
combustion systems and non availability of reference standards (for small combustion systems) etc.

Therefore, this paper aims to discuss the widely used combustion systems in small & medium industries,
common flue gas emission parameters, proposed and applicable environmental standards, sample
locations and pre facility required for monitoring.

Key Words: Bagas, Bio Gas, Combined Cycle, Distillation, Effluent Gases, Flue Gas, Hydraulic
Diameter, Homogeneity, Parboiling, Refinery, Randleman, Suspended Particles, Volatile, Volumetric Flow

1.0 Introduction:
Thermal energy requirements of industries have
been met by firing different kinds of fuels in
different kinds of combustion chambers. The
number of systems available in the country
cannot be quantified but can be classified/
categorized according to the type of fuel used,
type of plant and type of process application.

Many industries, especially located in urban
areas and industrial zones, have obtained
required thermal energy by firing heavy oil,
their light oil or LP gas in different types of
firing chambers. In addition to these fossil fuel
systems, many numbers of bio mass fuel
combustion systems and limited numbers of coal
fired systems are available in different locations.

The emission control of solid fuel combustion
systems, such as coal, fire wood, bio mass etc., is
rather difficult than the emissions of fossil fuel
combustion systems. However, due to the
increase of imported fuel prices, many industries
have converted their fossil fuel combustion
system to solid fuel combustion systems.

Eng. K T Jayasinghe, BSc. Eng (Hon), M Eng (Energy
Technology), AMIE(Sri Lanka), Principal Research Engineer,
Energy & Environmental Management Centre, National
Engineering Research & Development Centre.

ENGINEER
38

ENGINEER 2

Therefore, during the last five years, use of bio
mass in industries have been increased to over
681,000 Metric Tons [Annual Energy Balance
2007; Sri Lanka Sustainable Energy Authority].

While increasing the number of firing systems,
there would be a high amount of emissions (both
particles and gasses) to the atmosphere and
therefore, responsible authorities have tightened
the environmental rules & regulations against
the industries.

2.0 Widely Used Combustion
Systems in Industries

The various types of combustion systems
available in the country can be categorized into
three different groups such as large scale
combustion systems, medium scale combustion
systems and small scale combustion systems.

The large scale combustion systems comprise
up-and-coming new combined cycle power
plants, diesel engine power plants, petroleum
refineries, bagas combustion systems in sugar
mills, kiln and furnaces operated in glass,
cement, ceramic industries etc.

Many numbers of furnace oil/ diesel/ fire wood
combustion steam or hot water generated boiler
systems have been operated in many industries
all over the country. These types of combustion
systems can be included in the medium scale
category. In addition to those boiler systems,
different types of kilns, furnaces, dryers, solid
waste disposal systems have been used in
industries such as garment, food processing,
manufacturing, distillation processes, hotel etc.

The small scale processing plants have been
widely spread all over the country in urban and
rural areas as well. Parboiling systems in rice
mills, foundry furnaces, bakeries, charcoal
processing, etc can be included in this category.

In addition to the combustion systems, some
processing industries emit different kinds of
gases and suspended particles to the atmosphere
as a waste/or by product from their processing
plants, such as chemical processing plants, coir
industry, metal crushers, service stations, saw
mills etc.

3.0 Compositions of Exhaust Gases
in Combustion Systems

The main stack emissions from fossil fuel
combustion systems are Carbon Dioxide (CO2),
Carbon Monoxide (CO), Sulphur Dioxide (SO2),
Oxides of Nitrogen (NOx) and Total Suspended
Particles (TSP) or Volatile Organic Compounds
(VOC). In addition to these major emission
parameters, Lead (Pb), Chlorine (Cl2), Methane
(CH4) etc. are included as minor components
and emission of these gases depends on the
composition of the fuel.

The emissions of Carbon Dioxide (CO2) and
VOC in fire wood combustion systems are
relatively higher than the emissions of fossil fuel
combustion systems. However, SO2 content in
fire wood combustion systems is comparatively
negligible.

The same pollutants are produced when fuels
are burnt elsewhere in any type of application.
However, the emission quantity depends on the
plant capacity and the operating period.

Flue gas emission parameters in different
capacity combustion systems are given in
Table-1.

The values given in this table are average figures
of several tests in similar kinds of
plant/machineries or processes. The values of
gases vary within the range of +/- 10 % (except
CO level), and the values of TSP vary within the
range of +/- 1.0 %.

3.1 Measuring Techniques

There is a wide choice of different sampling and
analytical techniques, published methods and
equipment that can be used to carry out stack
emission measurements. This paper describes
only the widely used and applicable principles,
standards, measuring techniques etc. by
focusing on the small and medium industries in
order to get a general overview to prepare
sampling accesses for flue gas analysis.

ENGINEER 3

Table 1 - Flue Gas Emission Parameters in Different Capacity of Combustion Systems
Plant Category Fuel Type
Parameters
CO2
(%)
CO
(%)
NOx
(ppm)
SO2
(ppm)
O2 (%)
Ex. Air
(%)
Temp.
(
0
C)
TSP
(mg/Nm
3
)
High Capacity (300 MW)
Electricity Generation
Fossil Fuel 4.5 0.002 180 15 15 300 500 80-100
High Capacity Thermal &
Bagas 10 1.000 70 650 10.0 55 230
3500 -
4500
Medium Capacity
(17 MW) Electricity
Generation
Diesel 5.5 0.002 775 100 14 250 370 30-50
Medium Capacity Steam
Generation
Fossil Fuel 12 0.002 30 420 4 25 185 10 - 15
Generation
Fire wood 4 0.040 50 35 17 400 200 60 - 75
Small Capacity Kiln
Fossil Fuel
(LP Gas)
3 0.001 10 5 17 400 250 ---
Small Capacity Air Heaters Fire wood 3 1.500 25 10 15 450 150 ---
Incinerator (with
Monitoring System)
Fossil Fuel
/ Wastes
9.0 0.003 45 4700 6.5 45 570 ---
Incinerator (without
Monitoring System)
Fossil Fuel
/ Wastes
5 0.030 130 5 14 200 60 250 - 500

In general, two methods of gas determinations;
extractive sampling method and non extractive
sampling method, have been practiced.
However, the extractive sampling method is the
most common and widely used. In extractive
sampling, effluent gases are conditioned to
remove interfering substances and particulate
matter before being conveyed to the instrument.
On the other hand, non extractive sampling does
not remove interfering substances and sampling
is confined to the gas stream in the stack or duct.

There are two measuring principles in practice
to monitor flue gas emissions. These are the
Periodic Emission Monitoring (PEM) and
Continuous Emission Monitoring (CEM)
systems. The PEM is applied to the medium and
domestic level combustion systems and the CEM
is applied to the large scale combustion systems.
In other words, large scale combustion systems
have their own inbuilt flue gas monitoring
systems. However, the others have to get their
consultancies by reputed parties for the
measurements.

3.2 Methods and Standard Codes: Practices

Many standard methods and codes developed
by various standard institutes can be applied to
prepare the sample locations and to monitor the
emission levels (measurements). However, the

parties who are involved in such type of
activities should follow the correct and
convenient methods. The selection of particular
methods/or codes may depend on the type of
combustion systems, plant size, fuel used etc.
The applicable common methods and standard
codes for different combustion systems are given
in Table A-1 in Appendix A. Sometimes the
relevant standard methods and codes for the
particular plant will be provided by the plant
manufacture.

3.3 Local Standards and Parameters
Limitations

The local standards available in the country are
still in draft level. These local proposed
standards will be implemented by the Central
Environmental Authority (CEA) in Sri Lanka.
The measuring parameters and limitations of the
CEA proposed standards depend on the source
specified, type of industries, capacity of the
combustion system, method of combustion etc.
In addition to those special categorizations,
general atmospheric emission standards have
been introduced; highlighting the upper limit of
emission parameters for any general Stationary
Source. Table A-2 in Appendix A shows the
general atmospheric emission standards for
stationary sources.
39
ENGINEER

ENGINEER 3

Table 1 - Flue Gas Emission Parameters in Different Capacity of Combustion Systems
Plant Category Fuel Type
Parameters
CO2
(%)
CO
(%)
NOx
(ppm)
SO2
(ppm)
O2 (%)
Ex. Air
(%)
Temp.
(
0
C)
TSP
(mg/Nm
3
)
High Capacity (300 MW)
Fossil Fuel 4.5 0.002 180 15 15 300 500 80-100
High Capacity Thermal &
Bagas 10 1.000 70 650 10.0 55 230
3500 -
4500
Medium Capacity
(17 MW) Electricity
Generation
Diesel 5.5 0.002 775 100 14 250 370 30-50
Generation
Fossil Fuel 12 0.002 30 420 4 25 185 10 - 15
Generation
Fire wood 4 0.040 50 35 17 400 200 60 - 75
Small Capacity Kiln
Fossil Fuel
(LP Gas)
3 0.001 10 5 17 400 250 ---
Small Capacity Air Heaters Fire wood 3 1.500 25 10 15 450 150 ---
Incinerator (with
Monitoring System)
Fossil Fuel
/ Wastes
9.0 0.003 45 4700 6.5 45 570 ---
Incinerator (without
Monitoring System)
Fossil Fuel
/ Wastes
5 0.030 130 5 14 200 60 250 - 500

In general, two methods of gas determinations;
extractive sampling method and non extractive
sampling method, have been practiced.
However, the extractive sampling method is the
most common and widely used. In extractive
sampling, effluent gases are conditioned to
remove interfering substances and particulate
matter before being conveyed to the instrument.
On the other hand, non extractive sampling does
not remove interfering substances and sampling
is confined to the gas stream in the stack or duct.

There are two measuring principles in practice
to monitor flue gas emissions. These are the
Periodic Emission Monitoring (PEM) and
Continuous Emission Monitoring (CEM)
systems. The PEM is applied to the medium and
domestic level combustion systems and the CEM
is applied to the large scale combustion systems.
In other words, large scale combustion systems
have their own inbuilt flue gas monitoring
systems. However, the others have to get their
consultancies by reputed parties for the
measurements.

3.2 Methods and Standard Codes: Practices

Many standard methods and codes developed
by various standard institutes can be applied to
prepare the sample locations and to monitor the
emission levels (measurements). However, the

parties who are involved in such type of
activities should follow the correct and
convenient methods. The selection of particular
methods/or codes may depend on the type of
combustion systems, plant size, fuel used etc.
The applicable common methods and standard
codes for different combustion systems are given
in Table A-1 in Appendix A. Sometimes the
relevant standard methods and codes for the
particular plant will be provided by the plant
manufacture.

3.3 Local Standards and Parameters
Limitations

The local standards available in the country are
still in draft level. These local proposed
standards will be implemented by the Central
Environmental Authority (CEA) in Sri Lanka.
The measuring parameters and limitations of the
CEA proposed standards depend on the source
specified, type of industries, capacity of the
combustion system, method of combustion etc.
In addition to those special categorizations,
general atmospheric emission standards have
been introduced; highlighting the upper limit of
emission parameters for any general Stationary
Source. Table A-2 in Appendix A shows the
general atmospheric emission standards for
stationary sources.
ENGINEER
40

ENGINEER 4

4.0 Sample Locations and
Facility Requirements

The fundamental principle behind any sampling
activity is that a small amount of collected
material should be a representative of all the
material being monitored. The number of samples
(Tests) will depend on the homogeneity of the gas
stream. Variations in concentration, temperature
or velocity across the duct caused by moisture,
gas leakage or air infiltration can effect the
measurements.
The sampling approach, techniques, method and
equipment that are used can have different effects
on the requirements for access, facility and
services. However, the following basic
requirements should be met with each system.

- access to the sampling point,
- entry for sampling equipment into the stack,

- adequate space to the instruments and
personnel,

- provision of essential services, electricity etc

4.1 Preparations of Sample
Locations

4.1.1 Position of the Sample Plane
The selected sampling plane is usually in a section
of the duct with five hydraulic diameters of
straight duct upstream and two hydraulic
diameters downstream. If the sampling planes are
to be located near the top of the stack outlet, then
the top should be five hydraulic diameters. The
sample plane should be situated in a length of
straight duct (prefer vertical) with uniform shape
and cross sectional area. The sampling point
should be as far as possible downstream and
upstream avoiding any disturbances such as
bends, branches, obstructions, fans, dampers and
leaks etc.
[Hydraulic Diameter = 4 x Area of Sampling Plane/
Length of Sampling lane Perimeter]

4.1.2 Number of Sampling Points
The number of sampling points required is
determined by the size of the stack. The minimum
number of sample points and sample lines for
rectangular and circular ducts are shown in Table
2.
Table 2 Minimum Number of Sample Points
and Sample Lines (ISO 9096:2003)
Range of
Sampling
Plane
Area
(m
2
)
Circular Stack
Rectangular
Stacks
Range
of Duct
Diameter
(m)
Mini
m
Number
of
Sampling
Lines
(dia.)
Mini
m

Number
of
Sampling
Points per
Plane
Mini
m

Number
of
Side
Divisions
Number
of
Sampling
Points
per
Plane
<0.1 <0.35 - 1 - 1
0.1 to
1.0
0.35 to
1.1
2 4 2 4
1.1 to
2.0
1.1 to
1.6
2 8 3 9
> 2.0 >1.6 2 12 >=3 12
[Source; Environmental Agency Technical
Guidance M 1]

4.1.3 Positions of Sampling Points Along the
Sampling Plane

The sample plane is divided into equal areas
(sample lines) and sampling is carried out from
points (sample points) in the centre of these areas.
There are different standard dimensions for
sample points along the sample planes of circular,
rectangular and square ducts. The details are not
included in this paper, because these are very
common and have been practiced while
measuring the flow velocity and pressure inside
the ducting system. In addition to those
requirements, surveying the proposed sampling
plane, preliminary velocity survey, and
unacceptable characteristics should be considered
while selecting the sampling points.

4.1.4 Sampling Access Port
The access port shall be big enough for the
insertion and removal of the equipment (probes)
used and to allow the sampling point to be
reached. As per BS EN 13284 1; 2002, the access
ports should have a minimum diameter of 125mm
or a surface area of 100 mm x 250 mm except
stacks smaller than 0.7 m diameter. A smaller
socket (say 50 mm) may be allowed for the smaller
stacks less than 0.7 m diameter. The port socket
shall not project into the gas stream. Typical
arrangement of access ports and fitments are
shown in Figures 1 to Figure 3.

ENGINEER 5

4.2 Sampling Facilities and Safety
Requirements

The safe and permanent working platform and
lifting arrangement should be required to reach
the sampling locations and the conditions of
devices should be confirmed by the responsible
parties. However, in exceptional circumstances;
such as in old plants or those who cannot bear the
setting up facility cost (especially the small scale
industries), temporary structures; such as
scaffolding can be used. All the platforms,
whether permanent or temporary, should meet
the weight criteria required for sampling and this
is defined as 400 kg point load as per BS EN
13284- 1:2002 standards. {As per the Indian
Standards the total load should be equivalent to
the weight of at least 3 men (average weight 80 kg
each) plus 90 kg of equipment weight]. The
temporary platform should be tied to or
supported by a permanent structure. Sampling
from roof tops and mobile devices are
unacceptable. The platform should provide
handrails and kick-boards that meet the
requirements of the work place. Removable
chains or self closing gates shall be used at the
platform to prevent workers falling through
access openings or ladders. The platform shall not
be accommodated on free standing water and
drainage is to be provided [BS EN 13284- 1:2002].
At the top of the platform, 15 Amp and 5 Amp,
Single phase power supply sockets are required to
operate the instruments.

4.2.1 Space for the Equipment and Personnel

The space, size requirements and dimensions for
platforms are illustrated in Figures 4 to Figure 7.

The platform surface area should not be less than
5 m
2
and minimum width at any point shall be 2
m. The minimum length in front of the access port
shall be 2 m or the length of the probe plus 1 m.
The platform should be wide enough to prevent
sampling equipment extending beyond the
platform.

Figure 1 Standard 125 mm Access Port
[Source Technical Guide Note M 1]

Figure 3 Plan View of Typical Arrangement of Access
Fittings on Large Circular Stacks (>=3.6 m Diameter)
Fittings on Large Square Rectangular Stacks

75 mm
1
2
0

m
m
Pipe Stub 125 mm
Schedule 40
Flang
BS10-125mm
S
t
a
c
k

W
a
l
l
Sampleing Centre Line
Parallel Sided Sockets Parallel Sided Sockets
Parallel
Sided
Sockets
Parallel
Sided
Sockets
90
41
ENGINEER

ENGINEER 5

4.2 Sampling Facilities and Safety
Requirements

The safe and permanent working platform and
lifting arrangement should be required to reach
the sampling locations and the conditions of
devices should be confirmed by the responsible
parties. However, in exceptional circumstances;
such as in old plants or those who cannot bear the
setting up facility cost (especially the small scale
industries), temporary structures; such as
scaffolding can be used. All the platforms,
whether permanent or temporary, should meet
the weight criteria required for sampling and this
is defined as 400 kg point load as per BS EN
13284- 1:2002 standards. {As per the Indian
Standards the total load should be equivalent to
the weight of at least 3 men (average weight 80 kg
each) plus 90 kg of equipment weight]. The
temporary platform should be tied to or
supported by a permanent structure. Sampling
from roof tops and mobile devices are
unacceptable. The platform should provide
handrails and kick-boards that meet the
requirements of the work place. Removable
chains or self closing gates shall be used at the
platform to prevent workers falling through
access openings or ladders. The platform shall not
be accommodated on free standing water and
drainage is to be provided [BS EN 13284- 1:2002].
At the top of the platform, 15 Amp and 5 Amp,
Single phase power supply sockets are required to
operate the instruments.

4.2.1 Space for the Equipment and Personnel

The space, size requirements and dimensions for
platforms are illustrated in Figures 4 to Figure 7.

The platform surface area should not be less than
5 m
2
and minimum width at any point shall be 2
m. The minimum length in front of the access port
shall be 2 m or the length of the probe plus 1 m.
The platform should be wide enough to prevent
sampling equipment extending beyond the
platform.

Figure 1 Standard 125 mm Access Port

Fittings on Large Circular Stacks (>=3.6 m Diameter)
Fittings on Large Square Rectangular Stacks

75 mm
1
2
0

m
m
Pipe Stub 125 mm
Schedule 40
Flang
BS10-125mm
S
t
a
c
k

W
a
l
l
Parallel Sided Sockets Parallel Sided Sockets
Parallel
Sided
Sockets
Parallel
Sided
Sockets
90
ENGINEER
42

ENGINEER 6

4.3 Location Requirements for Monitoring
Gases
The location requirements for measuring gas
concentrations are less important than for
particulates, as variations in velocity profiles
tend not to affect the homogeneity of the gas
concentration. This means that the proximity to
bends, branches, obstruction fans and dampers
are less important. But the sampling after
dilution with air must be avoided. However,
sometimes it is necessary to measure stack gas
velocity and volumetric flow rate. Then the
measurements should be taken by following the
particulate matter sampling procedures.

Duct Side Length , l1 (m) 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2.0 2.2 2.4 2.6 2.8 3.0 3.2 3.4 3.6
Duct Side Width , w (m) 0.6 8.0 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2.0 2.2 2.4 2.6 2.8 3.0 3.2 3.4 3.6
Width of Platform, b (m) 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 3.0
Figure 4 Typical Area Required Behind
Probe for Handling [Source Technical Guide
Note M 1]
Figure 5 Plan View of Platform Working Area for
Small Vertical Circular Stacks (< 3.6 m Diameter)
Figure 6 Plan View of Platform Working Area for
Square or Rectangular Ducts (Up to l 1 = 3.6 m)
Figure 7 Plan View of Platform Working Area &
Orientation Recommendations for Large Vertical
Circular Stacks (>= 3.6 m Diameter) [Source
Technical Guide Note M 1]
Sampleing Line
Platform Area
Sampleing Line
Duct
Maximum of 2 m or Probe Length + 1 m
Stack
Sapling Platform Subjected
to Minimum of 5 m2
M
I
n
i
m
u
m

o
f

2

m

o
r

P
r
o
b
e

L
e
n
g
t
h

+

1

m
Sockets
S
a
p
l
i
n
g

P
r
o
b
e

Stack
Minimum Width
of Platform at
Any Point in 2 m
Platform
S
a
m
p
l
i
n
g

P
l
a
t
f
o
r
m

Duct b
a
l1
w

ENGINEER 7

There are different categories of instruments
available to monitor particulates and gas
contents in flue gas. The instruments used in
different tests may depend on the measuring
principles and techniques published by the
responsible institutes. However, widely used
flue gas analyzing systems and particulate
matter monitoring systems are illustrated in
Figure 8 & Figure 9 respectively.

Figure 8 (a) Flue Gas Analyzer Feature,
Figure 8 (b) Standard Probe Configurations
[Source KANE International (Pvt.) Ltd.,
United Kingdom]
Figure 8 (b)
Figure 8 (a)

Figure 9 Particulate Sampling Train, Equipped with In-Stack Filter; [Source - State of California Air
Resources Board.

Dry Gas
Meter
Ice
Water
Bath
Vacuum
Line
Vacuum
Gauge
By-pass
Valve
Pump
Orifice
Temperature
Sensors
Check
Valve
Silica
Gel
Impingers
Temperature
Sensor
Main
Valve
Temperature
Sensor Stack
Wall
Flexible
Tubing
Manometer
Type S
Pitot Tube
Sampling
Nozzle
Empty Water
Impinger Train Optional, May Be Replaced
By An Equivalent Condenser
* Suggested (Interference-Free) Spacings
z
In-Stack
Fil ter
Holder
Temperature
Sensor
x
y
Z = 7.6 cm (3 in.)*
x = y = 1.9 cm (0.75 in) *
Type S
Pitot
Tube
5.0 Instrumentations
43
ENGINEER

ENGINEER 7

There are different categories of instruments
available to monitor particulates and gas
contents in flue gas. The instruments used in
different tests may depend on the measuring
principles and techniques published by the
responsible institutes. However, widely used
flue gas analyzing systems and particulate
matter monitoring systems are illustrated in
Figure 8 & Figure 9 respectively.

Figure 8 (a) Flue Gas Analyzer Feature,
Figure 8 (b) Standard Probe Configurations
[Source KANE International (Pvt.) Ltd.,
United Kingdom]
Figure 8 (b)
Figure 8 (a)

Figure 9 Particulate Sampling Train, Equipped with In-Stack Filter; [Source - State of California Air
Resources Board.

Dry Gas
Meter
Ice
Water
Bath
Vacuum
Line
Vacuum
Gauge
By-pass
Valve
Pump
Orifice
Temperature
Sensors
Check
Valve
Silica
Gel
Impingers
Temperature
Sensor
Main
Valve
Temperature
Sensor Stack
Wall
Flexible
Tubing
Manometer
Type S
Pitot Tube
Sampling
Nozzle
Empty Water
Impinger Train Optional, May Be Replaced
By An Equivalent Condenser
* Suggested (Interference-Free) Spacings
z
In-Stack
Fil ter
Holder
Temperature
Sensor
x
y
Z = 7.6 cm (3 in.)*
x = y = 1.9 cm (0.75 in) *
Type S
Pitot
Tube
5.0 Instrumentations
ENGINEER
44

ENGINEER 8

6.0 General Recommendations
6.1 As far as the new environmental rules
and regulations, are concerned
monitoring of particulate matter and
effluent gasses emitted by combustion
sources/systems are essential. This
monitoring can be either periodical or
continuous and the method depends on
the definitions of the particular
standard.

6.2 Most of the large scale combustion
systems have provided the particulate
matter and effluent gas controlling
mechanisms ,such as bag filters, cyclone
separators, water spraying etc and the
inbuilt effluent gas monitoring system.
The sampling ports, working platform
and lifting arrangements to reach the
sampling locations are also available in
those types of combustion systems.

6.3 The combustion system owners
(especially SMI owners) who are having
old combustion systems (plants without
sampling points, lifting arrangement etc)
and newcomers to the industries who
are going to set up the combustion
systems should have considered the
instructions and details given in this
paper while setting up the effluent gas
monitoring system. They should also
clearly understand which category of
the standard codes have to be followed
up with their combustion system.

6.4 More careful attention should be paid to
the accurate test results of particulate
matter rather than measurements of
gaseous concentrations, because
nonhomogeneous flow will badly affect
the measurements. However, it should
avoid the dilution of flue gas with fresh
air, while measuring the gaseous
concentrations. Further, the toxic gases
such as Oxides of Nitrogen should be
measured at the pre defined (as per the
relevant standards) Oxygen reference
level.

7.0 Acknowledgement
The author wishes to acknowledge
Dr. T B Adikarinayaka; Head of the
Department Agriculture and Post
Harvest Technology of National
Engineering Research & Development
Centre giving his valuable input to
standardize this paper.

References
1. International Standards; ISO 10155
Stationary Source Emissions Automated
Monitoring of Mass Concentrations of Particles
Performance Characteristics, Test Methods and
Specifications.
Stationary Source Emissions Determinations of
the Mass Concentration of Sulfur Dioxide -
Performance Characteristics of Automated
Measuring Methods.
Stationary Source Emissions Sampling for the
Automated Determination of Gas Concentrations.
4. Indian Standard; IS: 11255 (Part 4) - 1985
Methods for Measurements of Emission from
Stationary Sources.
5. Technical Guide Note (Monitoring) M 1
Sampling Requirements for Stack Emission
Monitoring; Environment Agency, Version 4,
July 2006.
6. Technical Guide Note (Monitoring) M 2
Monitoring of Stack Emission to Air;
Environment Agency, Version 4, July 2006.
7. Air Quality Sampling Manual;
Queensland Government, Environmental
Protection Agency
8. Proposed Environmental Standards for
Stationary Combustion Sources ; Central
Environmental Authority, Sri Lanka
9. KM 9106 Flue Gas Analyzer Operation
Manual, Kane International Limited, Kane
House, Swallowfield, Welweyn Garden City,
Hertfordshire, AL 7 IJG.
10. ENVIROTECH APM 621 Stack Monitoring
Kit Operation Manual, VAYUBODHAN
UPKARAN (Pvt.) Ltd, A 292/1,Okhla Industrial
Area, Phase 1, New Delhi 110 020.
11. Environmental Monitoring Reports Energy
& Environmental Management Centre, National
Engineering Research & Development Centre,
2P/17B, Industrial Estate, Ekala, Ja Ela. Sri
Lanka.

Figure 8 (a)

ENGINEER 9

Appendix A
Table A - 1 Common Codes and Standards Practice in Monitoring Flue Gas Emission
Name of Standard Reference Code Details
International Standard ISO 7935
Stationary Source Emission Determination of
the Mass Concentration of Sulphar Dioxide
Measuring Methods
Stationary Source Emission Automated
Monitoring of Mass Concentrations of Particles -
Specifications
Stationary Source Emission Sampling for the
Automated Determination of Gas Concentrations
Bureau of Indian Standards IS 11255 (Part 3 & Part 4)
Methods for Measurement of Emission from
Stationary Sources
Environment Agency Technical Guidance Note M 1
Monitoring
Environment Agency Technical Guidance Note M 2 Monitoring of Stack Emission to Air
Environmental Protection Agency Guidance Note No 1 Air Emission Sampling Facility
Emission Measurement Technical
Information Centre
Method 5
Determination of Particulate Emissions from
Stationary Sources
Information Centre
Method 6 A
Determination of Sulphar Dioxide, Moisture and
Carbon Dioxide from Fossil Fuel Combustion
Sources
Information Centre
Method 6 C
Determination of Sulphar Dioxide Emission from
Stationary Sources
Information Centre
Method 7 E
Determination of Nitrogen Oxides Emission
from Stationary Sources
State of California
Air Resources Board
Method 17
Stationary Sources (In-Stack Filtration Method)
Central Environmental Authority Sri
Lanka ; Pollution Control Division
Proposed Standards 2.1
General Atmospheric Emission Standards for
Stationary Sources
Sources Specific Atmospheric Emission
Standards for New Modified Stationary Sources

Table A-2 General Atmospheric Emission Standards for Stationary Sources
Name of Substance Standard applicable to Standard
Soot and dust Combustion sources 150mg/Nm
3

Smoke Combustion sources Ringlemann 2
Harmful
substance
Chlorine (Cl2)
Hydrogen chloride (HCI)
Combustion or chemical
treatment at chemical product
reaction facilities or a waste
incinerator
Chlorine: 30 mg/Nm
3

Hydrogen chloride: 500 mg/Nm
3

Fluorides (F)
Hydrogen fluorides (HF)
Any commercial, industrial
processes
Fluoride: 20 mg/Nm
3

Hydrogen fluorides: 20 mg/Nm
3

Cadmium (Cd) and its
compounds
treatment at a copper, zinc or
lead refinery
10 mg/Nm
3
as Cd
Lead (Pb) and its compounds
treatment at copper, zinc or
lead refining facilities
10mg/Nm
3
as Pb
Antimony (Sb) and its
compound
processes
10mg/Nm
3
as Sb
Arsenic (As) and its
compounds
processes
20 mg/Nm
3
as As
Copper (Cu) and its
compounds
processes
20 mg/Nm
3
as Cu
Mercury (Hg) and its
compounds
processes
10 mg/Nm
3
as Hg
[Source: CEA Proposed Environmental Standards]
45
ENGINEER

ENGINEER 9

Appendix A
Table A - 1 Common Codes and Standards Practice in Monitoring Flue Gas Emission
Name of Standard Reference Code Details
Stationary Source Emission Determination of
the Mass Concentration of Sulphar Dioxide
Measuring Methods
Stationary Source Emission Automated
Monitoring of Mass Concentrations of Particles -
Specifications
Stationary Source Emission Sampling for the
Automated Determination of Gas Concentrations
Bureau of Indian Standards IS 11255 (Part 3 & Part 4)
Methods for Measurement of Emission from
Stationary Sources
Environment Agency Technical Guidance Note M 1
Monitoring
Environment Agency Technical Guidance Note M 2 Monitoring of Stack Emission to Air
Environmental Protection Agency Guidance Note No 1 Air Emission Sampling Facility
Information Centre
Method 5
Stationary Sources
Information Centre
Method 6 A
Determination of Sulphar Dioxide, Moisture and
Carbon Dioxide from Fossil Fuel Combustion
Sources
Information Centre
Method 6 C
Determination of Sulphar Dioxide Emission from
Stationary Sources
Information Centre
Method 7 E
Determination of Nitrogen Oxides Emission
from Stationary Sources
State of California
Air Resources Board
Method 17
Stationary Sources (In-Stack Filtration Method)
General Atmospheric Emission Standards for
Stationary Sources
Sources Specific Atmospheric Emission
Standards for New Modified Stationary Sources

Table A-2 General Atmospheric Emission Standards for Stationary Sources
Name of Substance Standard applicable to Standard
Soot and dust Combustion sources 150mg/Nm
3

Smoke Combustion sources Ringlemann 2
Harmful
substance
Chlorine (Cl2)
Hydrogen chloride (HCI)
treatment at chemical product
reaction facilities or a waste
incinerator
Chlorine: 30 mg/Nm
3

Hydrogen chloride: 500 mg/Nm
3

Fluorides (F)
Hydrogen fluorides (HF)
processes
Fluoride: 20 mg/Nm
3

Hydrogen fluorides: 20 mg/Nm
3

Cadmium (Cd) and its
compounds
treatment at a copper, zinc or
lead refinery
10 mg/Nm
3
as Cd
Lead (Pb) and its compounds
treatment at copper, zinc or
lead refining facilities
10mg/Nm
3
as Pb
Antimony (Sb) and its
compound
processes
10mg/Nm
3
as Sb
Arsenic (As) and its
compounds
processes
20 mg/Nm
3
as As
Copper (Cu) and its
compounds
processes
20 mg/Nm
3
as Cu
Mercury (Hg) and its
compounds
processes
10 mg/Nm
3
as Hg
[Source: CEA Proposed Environmental Standards]
47
ENGINEER
ENGINEER - Vol. XXXXIV, No. 04, pp. [page range], 2011

ENGINEER 1
Design of a Wide Input Range DC-DC Converter
Suitable for Lead-Acid Battery Charging

M.W.D.R. Nayanasiri and J.A.K.S.Jayasinghe, B.S. Samarasiri

Abstract: In this paper design and implementation of a wide input range Cascaded Buck and
Boost (CBB) converter is presented with a robust power controller. Four new control strategies are
proposed and tested for this converter based on input voltage and duty cycle of the control signals.
Robust feature of the proposed control system ensures constant output DC current required to charge
the Lead-Acid batteries in bulk charge mode. The robust feedback controller of the power converter is
developed using a microcontroller which is acting as smart controller of the CBB converter.
DC-DC converters which are used for battery charging applications with variable power sources
should be able to both step-up and step-down the input voltage and provide high efficiency in the
whole range of operation. The CBB converter with power switches and diodes is used to achieve
above objective. CBB converter is constructed by cascading a Buck and a Boost Converter and
eliminating the output capacitor of the buck converter.

Keywords: Cascaded Buck and Boost Converter, Microcontroller, Lead Acid Batteries

1. Introduction

DC-DC converters with step-up and step-down
capability are required in several applications
where the input and output voltage ranges
overlap. As an example, in the battery charging
application which uses variable input power
sources such as wind mills and motor-
generator units of the hybrid vehicles.
Topologies such as Inverted Buck-Boost
converter and Single Ended Primary
Inductance Converters (SEPIC) can be used to
obtain constant output voltage from variable
power sources [1]. But they have low efficiency,
high output ripple, high noise and spikes in the
output voltage. Hence they are not suitable to
implement power supplies for battery charging
applications.

Figure 1 Cascaded Buck and Boost Converter
A DC-DC power converter is constructed by
cascading Buck and Boost Converter and
eliminating the output capacitor of the Buck
Converter as shown in Figure 1.
This DC-DC converter has minimum
components, low component stresses and low
energy storage capability in order to have small
size and high efficiency.
There are four possible switching states in a
CBB converter topology. They are shown in
Table 1.

Table 1- Switching States of CBB

Switching
State
S1 S2 Mode
1 ON PWM Boost
2 PWM PWM Buck-Boost
3 OFF PWM N/A
4 PWM OFF Buck

In the buck mode , when duty cycle of
the gate control signal is close to unity. But it is
difficult to have duty cycle of the gate control
signal of the power MOSFETs close to unity
due to the switching limitations of the available
power switches and their gate drive
technologies.
In boost mode of operation occurs
when duty cycle is close to zero. With existing
gate drive technologies of the power MOSFETs,
it is also difficult to have duty cycle close to
zero.
Hence CBB converter cannot be operated
satisfactorily when D< 0.1 and D>0.95 for boost
and buck mode respectively. Therefore we get a
dead band as shown in Figure 2.

Eng. Dulika Nayanasiri, BSc Eng.(Hons), AMIE(Sri
Lanka), Formerly Research Engineer, Engineering Design
Centre, University of Moratuwa. Presently PhD candidate
NTU, Singapore.
Eng. (Prof.) J A K S Jayasinghe, BSc Eng. (Hons),
MEng., CEng., PhD, MIE(Sri Lanka), Presently, Senior
Professor, Dept. of Electronics Engineering, University of
Moratuwa.
Eng. B S Samarasiri, BSc Eng.(Hons), CEng., MIE(Sri
Lanka), Presently Director, Engineering Design
Centre, University of Moratuwa.

ENGINEER - Vol. XXXXIV, No. 04, pp. [page range], 2011

ENGINEER 1
Design of a Wide Input Range DC-DC Converter
Suitable for Lead-Acid Battery Charging

M.W.D.R. Nayanasiri and J.A.K.S.Jayasinghe, B.S. Samarasiri

Abstract: In this paper design and implementation of a wide input range Cascaded Buck and
Boost (CBB) converter is presented with a robust power controller. Four new control strategies are
proposed and tested for this converter based on input voltage and duty cycle of the control signals.
Robust feature of the proposed control system ensures constant output DC current required to charge
the Lead-Acid batteries in bulk charge mode. The robust feedback controller of the power converter is
developed using a microcontroller which is acting as smart controller of the CBB converter.
DC-DC converters which are used for battery charging applications with variable power sources
should be able to both step-up and step-down the input voltage and provide high efficiency in the
whole range of operation. The CBB converter with power switches and diodes is used to achieve
above objective. CBB converter is constructed by cascading a Buck and a Boost Converter and
eliminating the output capacitor of the buck converter.

Keywords: Cascaded Buck and Boost Converter, Microcontroller, Lead Acid Batteries

1. Introduction

DC-DC converters with step-up and step-down
capability are required in several applications
where the input and output voltage ranges
overlap. As an example, in the battery charging
application which uses variable input power
sources such as wind mills and motor-
generator units of the hybrid vehicles.
Topologies such as Inverted Buck-Boost
converter and Single Ended Primary
Inductance Converters (SEPIC) can be used to
obtain constant output voltage from variable
power sources [1]. But they have low efficiency,
high output ripple, high noise and spikes in the
output voltage. Hence they are not suitable to
implement power supplies for battery charging
applications.

Figure 1 Cascaded Buck and Boost Converter
A DC-DC power converter is constructed by
cascading Buck and Boost Converter and
eliminating the output capacitor of the Buck
Converter as shown in Figure 1.
This DC-DC converter has minimum
components, low component stresses and low
energy storage capability in order to have small
size and high efficiency.
There are four possible switching states in a
CBB converter topology. They are shown in
Table 1.

Table 1- Switching States of CBB

Switching
State
S1 S2 Mode
1 ON PWM Boost
2 PWM PWM Buck-Boost
3 OFF PWM N/A
4 PWM OFF Buck

In the buck mode , when duty cycle of
the gate control signal is close to unity. But it is
difficult to have duty cycle of the gate control
signal of the power MOSFETs close to unity
due to the switching limitations of the available
power switches and their gate drive
technologies.
In boost mode of operation occurs
when duty cycle is close to zero. With existing
gate drive technologies of the power MOSFETs,
it is also difficult to have duty cycle close to
zero.
Hence CBB converter cannot be operated
satisfactorily when D< 0.1 and D>0.95 for boost
and buck mode respectively. Therefore we get a
dead band as shown in Figure 2.

Eng. Dulika Nayanasiri, BSc Eng.(Hons), AMIE(Sri
Lanka), Formerly Research Engineer, Engineering Design
Centre, University of Moratuwa. Presently PhD candidate
NTU, Singapore.
Eng. (Prof.) J A K S Jayasinghe, BSc Eng. (Hons),
MEng., CEng., PhD, MIE(Sri Lanka), Presently, Senior
Professor, Dept. of Electronics Engineering, University of
Moratuwa.
Eng. B S Samarasiri, BSc Eng.(Hons), CEng., MIE(Sri
Lanka), Presently Director, Engineering Design
Centre, University of Moratuwa.

ENGINEER
48

ENGINEER 2
In buck-boost mode, occurs when
duty cycle of the power switches is close to 0.5.
This range of the duty cycle can achieve easily
with existing MOSFET gate drive technology.
Therefore buck-boost mode is used to transfer
power within the above dead band.
Efficiency wise, it is not advantageous to
operate this converter in buck-boost mode [2].
But in order to smooth the transients, the buck-
boost mode is used to transit from buck mode
to boost mode or vice versa [3], [1]. Hence four
control algorithms are developed for this CBB
converter to obtain smooth transition between
each operation modes.
The proposed four control algorithms for this
converter are based on the duty cycle of the
gate control signal, input voltage and output
current.

Figure 2 Dead zone present in the output
voltage

This paper organizes as follows. The next
section explains the proposed new control
algorithm for this converter. Section 3 provides
the specifications of the converter. In Section 4
the operation modes with switches is explained
and in Section 5, the system architecture is
explained in brief. Section 6 provides design
and implementation details with relevant
calculations. In section 7, experiment setup is
presented and in the next section results
obtained from the experiment are given.

2. Control Strategy

Control strategy of the controller is for
maintaining a constant output current from the
CBB converter as the converter load and input
voltage changes. Main control is implemented
by using a microcontroller. Closed loop control
is used to develop firmware. Switching the CBB
converter between buck, buck-boost and boost
modes is a complex task as transients play a
major role as this mode of operation changes.
Control algorithm of the converter is based on
the duty cycle of the control signal, input
voltage and output current.
Input voltage based control strategy is
proposed in [1] for this type of converters. But,
such control algorithms are not possible to use
in this converter as the output load of this
converter is changing while the battery pack is
being charged.
Hence, four new control algorithms are
proposed for this converter by taking input
voltage and duty cycle of the power switch
control signals as control parameters.

2.1 Control strategy 1 - Input voltage
based control strategy with zero initial duty
cycle

In this algorithm, mode of operation of the CBB
converter is decided using only the input
voltage. The gate control signal of the power
switches are initialized with zero duty cycle.

2.2 Control strategy 2 - Input voltage
based control strategy with non-zero initial
duty cycle

In this algorithm, mode of operation of the CBB
converter is decided using input voltage. The
gate control signal of the power switches are
initialized with non-zero duty cycle. The duty
cycle of the power switch is calculated to give
minimum dips in the output current as the
converter changes its mode of operation.

2.3 Control strategy 3 - Input voltage and
duty cycle based control strategy

Initial mode of operation of the converter is
decided using input voltage. Use input voltage
as the control parameter to transit from buck-
boost mode to buck mode or from buck-boost
mode to boost mode. Duty cycle of the control
signal is used as the control parameter when it
is required to transit from boost mode to buck-
boost mode or from buck mode to buck-boost
mode.

2.4 Control strategy 4 - Duty cycle based
control strategy

In this control algorithm, initial mode of
operation is decided based on the input voltage.
Subsequently controller changes its mode of
operation according to the maximum and
minimum allowable duty cycle in each mode of
the CBB converter.

49
ENGINEER

ENGINEER 3
3. Specifications

CBB converter is developed to charge the 48V
Lead-Acid battery pack. There are four modes
in the standard Lead-Acid battery charging
cycle namely: trickle charge, bulk charge, over
charge and float charge. In this application,
bulk charge mode is used to charge the battery
pack with constant current. According to the
battery standard, to charge the Lead-Acid
battery in bulk charging mode, battery pack
should be charged with a current rated to 10%-
30% of the battery capacity. As 65Ah Lead-Acid
batteries are used in this design, charging
current was set to 6A.
Bulk charge mode of the Lead-Acid battery
charging cycle ends up when the cell terminal
voltage reaches 2.26V or 2.36V [4]. Therefore
terminal voltage of the battery pack will be
56.64V at the end of bulk charge mode. Hence
the output voltage of the CBB converter should
vary from 48V to 56.64V.

Table 2 Summary of Specifications of CBB

Description Value
I/P voltage range 24V-72V
O/P voltage range 48V-56.64V
O/P current 6A
O/P current ripple Max. 1A

4. Modes of Operation

CBB converter topology is supported for three
modes of operation. In this application all three
modes were implemented, inclusive of the
positive buck-boost mode. Positive buck-boost
mode acts as a bridge to transit from the buck
mode of operation to boost mode or vice versa
by providing ability to transfer the power when
.
The equivalent circuit of the CBB converter is
shown in Figure 3. The converter consists of
input capacitor Cin, output filter capacitor Cout,
two power switches Q1 and Q2, inductor L and
two freewheeling diodes D1 and D2. The
forward voltage drop of the diode is Vfw.

Figure 3 Equivalent circuit of CBB converter

All modes are operated at the same frequency
represented by . Figure 4 depicts typical
control signal provided by the microcontroller.

Figure 4 Control signal of power switches

4.1 Buck Mode

If input voltage is greater than the output
voltage or terminal voltage of the battery pack,
buck mode is used. In this mode of operation,
Q
1
is controlled by the Pulse Width Modulated
(PWM) signal as shown in Figure 4 and Q2 is
always in OFF condition. With switching
frequency f and duty cycle , input and
output voltage relationship is given by equation
(1).
... (1)

This was derived by neglecting Vfw, ON switch
resistance of Q1 and inductor resistance. The
inductor current (IL) has a triangle shape and its
average value is determined by the load. The
peak-to-peak current ripple IL is dependent
on L and can be calculated with the help of
equation (2) [5].

... (2)

4.2 Boost Mode

If input voltage is less than the terminal voltage
of the battery pack, then boost mode of
operation is used to step-up the voltage input in
order to charge the battery. In this mode of
operation, Q1 is always ON and Q2 is controlled
by the PWM signal provided by the main
controller as shown in Figure 4. The
relationship between input and output voltage
can be derived by neglecting diode forward
voltage drop Vfw, switch ON resistance and
inductor resistance. For a switching frequency f
and duty cycle , then Vout is given by
equation (3),

... (3)

ENGINEER
50

ENGINEER 4
The inductor ripple current is given by
equation (4) [5],

... (4)

4.3 Buck-Boost Mode

This mode is used when . In this
mode input and output voltage relationship is
given by equation (5).

... (5)

Both power switches are controlled by PWM
signals having same duty cycle D. During the
time both switches conduct simultaneously
and during the time both switches are
OFF and the energy stored in the inductor is
released to the load.

5. System Architecture

CBB converter is constructed as a combination
of different subsystems namely: input voltage
monitor, output voltage monitor, output
current monitor, power supply, main controller
and main power path or CBB converter. This is
shown in Figure 5.

Figure 5 System Architecture

Input and output voltage monitor subsystems
are implemented using voltage followers and
output current monitor subsystem is
implemented using a differential amplifier.
Power supply of the converter is based on
linear power regulators and transistor voltage
regulator.
Switching frequency of the CBB is selected by
considering inductor size and the power
MOSFETs switching losses [6]. With higher
switching frequency f , size of the inductor will
be small. But the switching losses of the power
MOSFETs become larger as f increases. Hence
operation frequency of the CBB is selected as
15.625 kHz because this value can be easily
obtained from maximum PWM register value
with 4 MHz crystal.

6. Design and Implementation

Same inductor (L) and same output filter
capacitor (Cout) are used in all modes of
operation of the CBB. Hence in the design
process, the required inductor and output
capacitor values for all modes of operation are
calculated using equations (9) (11), (16) and
(18). Then select the maximum value of
inductor and capacitor which is calculated
using above equations, as minimum inductor
and capacitor value of the CBB converter.

6.1 Buck Mode
In this mode, maximum input voltage is 72V
and minimum output voltage is 48V. Hence
maximum duty cycle is

... (6)

... (7)

If the maximum allowable output ripple
current is .

... (8)

Therefore the minimum required inductor, in
order to obtain continues conduction mode at
the rated output current is given by equation
(9).

... (9)

The current ripple causes a voltage ripple
Vout at the output capacitor Co. For normal
switching frequencies, this voltage ripple is
determined by the equivalent impedance Zmax.
The capacitors used for our design were
obtained from the local market and their
technical details were not available. Therefore
the capacitor values were selected to give
minimum output ripple current using trial and
error method.
The approximate value for the output capacitor
can be found using equation (10) [2],

... (10)

This is assuming that Vo = 0.01Vo and rated
power output of the converter approximately
equals to 260W.
51
ENGINEER

ENGINEER 5

... (11)

6.2 Boost Mode
In this mode, minimum input voltage is 24V
and maximum output voltage is 56V. Hence
maximum duty cycle is,

= 0.5 ... (12)

If maximum allowable output ripple current is
IL =0.2Iin, the input current Iin can be
calculated by assuming zero losses ( = ),
Therefore:
... (13)

... (14)

The inductors ripple current IL is given by
equation (15).

= 0.2 11.66A = 2.334 A ... (15)

Therefore the minimum required inductor to
obtain continues conduction mode at the rated
output current is given by equation (16)

= 0.376 mH ... (16)

By using equation (17) [2], the required output
filter capacitor can be found using equation (17)

... (17)

This is assuming that Vo = 0.01Vo and rated
power output of the converter is approximately
260W.
... (18)

6.3 Buck-Boost Mode

This mode is used in the limited input voltage
range (48V-56V). In this mode,
condition is given by the duty cycle of the
PWM signals in the range of .
Buck-boost mode is developed on the same
physical setup is used to develop buck and
boost modes and therefore same inductor and
capacitor is used.
According to above calculations, the minimum
inductor value was selected as 0.853 mH and
minimum output capacitor as 740F. All above
calculations were performed with
approximations and therefore those minimum
valued components do not give the required
performance. Inductor was chosen as 3.48 mH
and output capacitor as 4700 F.
Two switching transistors Q1 and Q2 are
realized with N-channel MOSFETs (IRFP250)
having 0.085 on resistance, 200V break down
voltage, 33A maximum average current and
nanosecond switching speed. In order to drive
high side and low side N-channel MOSFETs,
MOSFET gate drive IC (IR2101) based on
bootstrap gate drive technology was used.
BYW29E low forward voltage drop (0.895V)
fast switching rectifier diode was selected as D1
and D2. It has 200 V peak reverse voltage and 8
A continues forward current.
At the end of the design stage, the CBB
converter was implemented and the test setup
is shown in Figure 6.

7. Experimental setup

The proposed converter and control algorithm
are implemented in a laboratory prototype. The
performance of the buck mode and boost mode
were tested separately. Then both modes were
tested together against whole range of input
voltage with the main controller of the CBB.

Figure 6 DC-DC converter test setup

During the test, the dead band was clearly
visible in the output voltage. In order to
overcome this problem, buck-boost mode was
developed using same test setup by modifying
the firmware.
In the buck-boost mode, switching transistor
Q1 is switched with duty cycle slightly higher
than that of switching transistor Q2 due to
switching limitation of the power switches.
Finally all three modes were tested in the same
test setup with modified main controller
firmware.

ENGINEER
52

ENGINEER 6
8. Results

The results given below correspond to a 260W
prototype with a switching frequency of 15.625
KHz.
First, the CBB converter was tested with control
strategy 1 which is based on the input voltage.
In this method, converter changes its mode of
operation from boost to buck-boost and then to
buck mode as the input voltage increases or
other way as input voltage decreases. When
converter changes its mode of operation, there
were significant voltage dips in the output
voltage and hence a discontinuity appeared in
the output current as shown in Figure 7.

Figure 7 Output current vs. Input voltage
with control strategy 1.

Then the CBB converter was tested with
modified control algorithm (Control strategy 2),
with an initial none zero duty cycle for the
control signals. An improvement was observed
in the output current as shown in Figure 8.


Next the CBB converter was tested with control
strategy 3 based on duty cycle and input
voltage based. Dips in the output voltage and
discontinuity in the output current were
improved with this control strategy and the
results are shown in Figure 9.
It was observed that the converter operates in
the buck-boost mode within a large input
voltage range. But the operation of the
converter in the buck-boost mode is not
efficient.


To overcome the deficiencies in control strategy
3, the CBB converter was tested with a control
strategy which is completely based on the duty
cycle of the MOSFETs control signals (Control
strategy 4). With this control strategy, it was
possible to solve the issues related to output
voltage dips, output current discontinuity and
operation voltage range. The results are shown
in Figure 10.


The CBB converter based on control strategy 4
was used to charge the 65Ah Lead-Acid battery
pack with 5.5A constant current by varying
input voltage from 24V to 72V. It was observed
that, this converter can be operated in pure
buck and boost modes with high efficiency and
in the non inverted buck-boost mode with a
lower efficiency.
53
ENGINEER

ENGINEER 7
Battery terminal voltage was measured with
time while charging the battery pack using
boost mode and varying input voltage from
24V to 40V. Results are plotted in Figure 11.

9. Conclusion

In this paper steady-state behaviour of the CBB
converter is analysed and presented. The
equations are derived for the buck mode and
boost mode, when the converter is
implemented with diodes and power switches.
Selection of components and implementation
details are also presented. This converter is
suitable for applications which require non
inverted step-up and step-down operation in a
single circuit with low component count, low
component stress, simplicity and high
efficiency.

Figure 11 - Battery Terminal Voltage vs. Time

Although this converter is not efficient [2] in the
buck-boost mode, show the importance of
buck-boost mode to transfer power
when in the application having
overlapped input and output voltage range.
Duty cycle based control strategy is more
suitable to change the mode of operation of the
CBB converter other than the input voltage
based control strategies.

10. Acknowledgement

The authors would like to thank Ministry of
Industry and Commerce (Formerly Ministry of
Industrial Development) in Sri Lanka for the
financial support for this work through the
Development of Hybrid three wheeler project.
Special thank would go to the staff of the
Engineering Design Centre of University of
Moratuwa.

References

1. Chakraborty, A., Khaligh, A. and Emadi, A,
Combination of Buck and Boost Modes to
Minimize Transients in the Output of a Positive
Buck Boost Converter" 32
nd
Annual IEEE
Conference on Industrial Electronics Nov. 2006.

2. Schaltz Erik, Khaligh Alireza Non-inverting
Buck-Boost Converter for Fuel Cell Applications"
June 2008.

3. Gaboriault, M and Notman, A "A High
Efficiency, Non Inverting, Buck Boost DC-DC
Converter Applied Power Electronics
Conference and Exposition, pp. 1411-1415,
2004.

4. Oconnor, John A, Simple Switch mode Lead-Acid
Battery Charger"

5. Heinz Schmidt Walter "Switched Mode Power
Supplies"

6. http://schmidt-walter.eit.h-da.de/
ENGINEER 1
Stormwater Management Modelling for Ungauged
Watershed in Matara Municipality

H.M.D. Harshani and N.T.S. Wijesekera

Most urban areas are having flood problems due to human activities. It is not easy to model
urban watersheds since very often they are ungauged. This paper describes the modelling of an
ungauged watershed in the Matara Municipal Council Area of Southern Sri Lanka using the free
SWMM5 model of the EPA. Several field visits were conducted to capture the model parameters
and flood scenario for model development and calibration. The watershed delineation was done
using 1:10,000 topographic maps and canal slopes etc were determined using the elevation data of
these maps. This watershed with an area of 1.12 km
2
was modelled and calibration was done for
the order of magnitude of the outputs. The model shows reasonable results with the actual
conditions in the absence of gauge data This work demonstrates that urban stormwater model
SWMM5 can be used in Matara Municipal Council area to a satisfactory level with adequate field
data collection. However, for accurate results, it is necessary to suitably gauge the stream flows
and carry out field and engineering surveys for the measurement of physical parameters. The
model demonstrated the capability to identify engineering and stormwater management options.
Model outputs revealed that cleaning of canals was one option for reducing the flooding at nodes.
For the considered storm, a reduction of canal roughness from 0.2 to 0.015 reduced the flood peak
by 56% and no flood is happening after introducing a rectangular detention unit which is having
200m
2
floor area.

Keywords: Urban, Stormwater, ungauged, Mathematical modelling , flooding, SWMM5

1. Introduction

Today, an urban flood due to poor stormwater
management is a major issue in most parts of
the country. There are many flood prone urban

Matara
Municipality
Walgama
Watershed
Figure 1 - Study Area

Madihe Mudun
Ela
Colombo-
Matara Road

N
Boundary line to
the watershed
Miss. H.M.D. Harshani B.Sc. Eng. (Hons)
(Moratuwa),
Eng. (Prof.) N.T.S.Wijesekera, B.Sc. Eng. (Sri
Lanka), C. Eng., FIE(Sri Lanka), M. Eng. (Tokyo), D.
Eng. (Tokyo), Senior Professor of Civil Engineering,
Department of Civil Engineering, University of
Moratuwa, Sri Lanka

55
ENGINEER
ENGINEER 1
Stormwater Management Modelling for Ungauged
Watershed in Matara Municipality

H.M.D. Harshani and N.T.S. Wijesekera

Most urban areas are having flood problems due to human activities. It is not easy to model
urban watersheds since very often they are ungauged. This paper describes the modelling of an
ungauged watershed in the Matara Municipal Council Area of Southern Sri Lanka using the free
SWMM5 model of the EPA. Several field visits were conducted to capture the model parameters
and flood scenario for model development and calibration. The watershed delineation was done
using 1:10,000 topographic maps and canal slopes etc were determined using the elevation data of
these maps. This watershed with an area of 1.12 km
2
was modelled and calibration was done for
the order of magnitude of the outputs. The model shows reasonable results with the actual
conditions in the absence of gauge data This work demonstrates that urban stormwater model
SWMM5 can be used in Matara Municipal Council area to a satisfactory level with adequate field
data collection. However, for accurate results, it is necessary to suitably gauge the stream flows
and carry out field and engineering surveys for the measurement of physical parameters. The
model demonstrated the capability to identify engineering and stormwater management options.
Model outputs revealed that cleaning of canals was one option for reducing the flooding at nodes.
For the considered storm, a reduction of canal roughness from 0.2 to 0.015 reduced the flood peak
by 56% and no flood is happening after introducing a rectangular detention unit which is having
200m
2
floor area.

Keywords: Urban, Stormwater, ungauged, Mathematical modelling , flooding, SWMM5

1. Introduction

Today, an urban flood due to poor stormwater
management is a major issue in most parts of
the country. There are many flood prone urban

Matara
Municipality
Walgama
Watershed
Figure 1 - Study Area

Madihe Mudun
Ela
Colombo-
Matara Road

N
Boundary line to
the watershed
Miss. H.M.D. Harshani B.Sc. Eng. (Hons)
(Moratuwa),
Eng. (Prof.) N.T.S.Wijesekera, B.Sc. Eng. (Sri
Lanka), C. Eng., FIE(Sri Lanka), M. Eng. (Tokyo), D.
Eng. (Tokyo), Senior Professor of Civil Engineering,
Department of Civil Engineering, University of
Moratuwa, Sri Lanka

ENGINEER
56

ENGINEER 2
areas which are subjected to significant
inundations several times a year. (Marsalek,J et
al.2006.[4]).
Complaints indicate that many areas which had
never flooded previously are now flooded
mostly due to blockage of drainage paths and
increase of impervious surfaces.

Several urban areas in the country have been
experiencing flood problems due to lack of
proper storm water management systems. Due
to high impervious area, instead of infiltrating
in to the soil almost all precipitated water
becomes surface runoff and when there is no
proper drainage systems most of the areas get
inundated. This makes roads in the city to
appear as waterways and leads to a sequence of
problems. In urban areas, land owners fill their
lands to prevent surface runoff getting into
their lands; unauthorized constructions block
the drainage paths and increasing impervious
areas, are the main reasons which cause the
stormwater drainage problems. Polaskova et al
2005. [6], David, E et al. [3]).
Therefore it is very important to evaluate the
causes for the stormwater drainage problem in
urban areas in order to implement suitable
management options as mitigatory actions.

For this study, Walgama area (Fig. 01.) of
Matara Municipality which has been facing
flood problems for many years was selected to
investigate the stormwater drainage problem
and an attempt was made to provide
management options through computer based
simulation modelling. EPA SWMM is a
mathematical model which can be used to
model stormwater in urban watersheds. But in
Sri Lanka, It has not been used for ungauged
small watersheds.

The EPA Storm Water Management Model
(SWMM) is a dynamic rainfall runoff
simulation model. It was developed in 1971 by
the Water Resources Engineers, for the
Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA).(http://www.epa.gov/ednnrmr/model.
[7]). Major input parameters for the model are
rainfall and catchment parameters which
include sub catchments, canals, junctions, rain
gauge and outfalls.
Since there are no gauged urban water sheds in
Sri Lanka, significant data was not available for
model calibration and verification. However,
Walgama watershed was selected for the
mathematical modelling and data were
collected through several field surveys. As
SWMM can model several outfalls
simultaneously and is capable of presenting
outflows at canals and junctions with
animations, finding management options were
easy.

2. Methodology
The study methodology included a literature
survey, field work for identification of input
parameters, field observations for model
calibration, modeling of the watershed, and a
parameter sensitivity study to propose
management options.
Literature survey was carried out on several
published and unpublished studies about storm
water management options, urban catchment
handling, runoff calculation methods and
available methods for storm water
management. ( Chouli.E. et al, 2005.[1]).

2.1 Data Collection
Since the study area is ungauged, there were no
recorded data available. Therefore, field work
was important for collecting the data for model
development and calibration. Desk studies
were carried out using satellite images and the
1:10,000 topographic maps of the survey
department, in order to find out drainage
directions, land use patterns and subcatchment
slopes.
In order to model the actual field condition, as
it is, all canal details and sub catchment details
must be observed within the catchment area
and data must be collected for each parameter.
Several field visits were carried out to gather
the information about the drainage network
characteristics and flooding details. Since there
were time and resource limitations, data were
collected using linen tape and hand held GPS
and at the same time eye estimations were used
to estimate several parameters.

Subcatchment land use pattern, topography
and vegetation types were observed during
field visits and subcatchment slope, area and
percentage of impervious areas were calculated
using GIS tool. Vegetation type and percentage
of impervious area are important to determine
the Mannings Roughness Coefficient for over
land flow. Typical Mannings roughness values
were collected from some text books. (Chow, V.
T. et al, 1998.[2], Maidment, D.R.,1993.[5]).
Parameters of subcatchments are as in Table 01.
Sub catchment number is related to the figure
03 and N stands for Coefficient of Manning
roughness.
57
ENGINEER

ENGINEER 2
areas which are subjected to significant
inundations several times a year. (Marsalek,J et
al.2006.[4]).
Complaints indicate that many areas which had
never flooded previously are now flooded
mostly due to blockage of drainage paths and
increase of impervious surfaces.

Several urban areas in the country have been
experiencing flood problems due to lack of
proper storm water management systems. Due
to high impervious area, instead of infiltrating
in to the soil almost all precipitated water
becomes surface runoff and when there is no
proper drainage systems most of the areas get
inundated. This makes roads in the city to
appear as waterways and leads to a sequence of
problems. In urban areas, land owners fill their
lands to prevent surface runoff getting into
their lands; unauthorized constructions block
the drainage paths and increasing impervious
areas, are the main reasons which cause the
stormwater drainage problems. Polaskova et al
2005. [6], David, E et al. [3]).
Therefore it is very important to evaluate the
causes for the stormwater drainage problem in
urban areas in order to implement suitable
management options as mitigatory actions.

For this study, Walgama area (Fig. 01.) of
Matara Municipality which has been facing
flood problems for many years was selected to
investigate the stormwater drainage problem
and an attempt was made to provide
management options through computer based
simulation modelling. EPA SWMM is a
mathematical model which can be used to
model stormwater in urban watersheds. But in
Sri Lanka, It has not been used for ungauged
small watersheds.

The EPA Storm Water Management Model
(SWMM) is a dynamic rainfall runoff
simulation model. It was developed in 1971 by
the Water Resources Engineers, for the
Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA).(http://www.epa.gov/ednnrmr/model.
[7]). Major input parameters for the model are
rainfall and catchment parameters which
include sub catchments, canals, junctions, rain
gauge and outfalls.
Since there are no gauged urban water sheds in
Sri Lanka, significant data was not available for
model calibration and verification. However,
Walgama watershed was selected for the
mathematical modelling and data were
collected through several field surveys. As
SWMM can model several outfalls
simultaneously and is capable of presenting
outflows at canals and junctions with
animations, finding management options were
easy.

2. Methodology
The study methodology included a literature
survey, field work for identification of input
parameters, field observations for model
calibration, modeling of the watershed, and a
parameter sensitivity study to propose
management options.
Literature survey was carried out on several
published and unpublished studies about storm
water management options, urban catchment
handling, runoff calculation methods and
available methods for storm water
management. ( Chouli.E. et al, 2005.[1]).

2.1 Data Collection
Since the study area is ungauged, there were no
recorded data available. Therefore, field work
was important for collecting the data for model
development and calibration. Desk studies
were carried out using satellite images and the
1:10,000 topographic maps of the survey
department, in order to find out drainage
directions, land use patterns and subcatchment
slopes.
In order to model the actual field condition, as
it is, all canal details and sub catchment details
must be observed within the catchment area
and data must be collected for each parameter.
Several field visits were carried out to gather
the information about the drainage network
characteristics and flooding details. Since there
were time and resource limitations, data were
collected using linen tape and hand held GPS
and at the same time eye estimations were used
to estimate several parameters.

Subcatchment land use pattern, topography
and vegetation types were observed during
field visits and subcatchment slope, area and
percentage of impervious areas were calculated
using GIS tool. Vegetation type and percentage
of impervious area are important to determine
the Mannings Roughness Coefficient for over
land flow. Typical Mannings roughness values
were collected from some text books. (Chow, V.
T. et al, 1998.[2], Maidment, D.R.,1993.[5]).
Parameters of subcatchments are as in Table 01.
Sub catchment number is related to the figure
03 and N stands for Coefficient of Manning
roughness.

ENGINEER 3

Subcatchment properties
Subcatchment
Number Area Width
%
slope
%
impervious N -impervious
N -
pervious
1 24.087 385 8.8 15 0.023 0.4
2 5.814 305 7.27 20 0.024 0.15
3 1.228 182 0.055 25 0.01 0.1
4 2.918 220 0.5 30 0.01 0.1
5 3.148 265 8.37 23 0.01 0.18
6 2.728 260 0.5 25 0.01 0.1
7 2.912 277 0.325 25 0.01 0.1
8 1.397 200 0.05 35 0.01 0.1
9 9.028 490 3.45 10 0.01 0.2
10 7.647 300 0.46 25 0.01 0.1
11 7.012 360 0.687 23 0.01 0.1
12 6.889 236 0.1 20 0.01 0.1
13 16.659 535 0.131 39 0.01 0.1
14 20.731 500 0.18 30 0.01 0.17

Madihe Mudun Ela is the main canal section of
the Walgama watershed. Canal geometry,
vegetation along the canal, bed slope, bed
condition and canal lengths were observed
during the field visits and GPS locations were
recorded at each junction as it is important for
the calculation of elevation at the junction.
Some canal parameters are as given in Table 02.
Geological features of each parameter were
collected from digital photographs as they are
useful in model verification.

A flood survey was carried out to collect past
flood information from stakeholders with the
aid of a questionnaire developed for this study.
The public, in the watershed, provided their
memories in flood events of the recent past
which had occurred on 18
th
of July 2008. It was
revealed that the upstream of Madihe Mudun
Ela canal undergoes a flood, even after a small
rainfall. Flood heights indicated by them are
shown in Table 03 and ponded areas at each
junction are indicated in Figure 04 and their
flow directions were observed and noted
during the field visits.

Chainage
Canal Geometry Surface cover
shape Top Maximum Left Bank Right Bank Bed

width(m) depth(m)

115m

R
e
c
t
a
n
g
u
l
a
r

3 1.6 Vegetation Vegetation Clay
4.7m 1.45 0.75 Concrete Concrete Concrete
151.8m 2.5 0.8 Vegetation Vegetation Clay
20m 1 0.8 Concrete Concrete Concrete
80m 2 0.75 Gabian Gabian Muddy
55m 2 0.8 Gabian Gabian Muddy
15m 0.9 0.4 Vegetation Vegetation Vegetation
Table 1 - Subcatchment parameters
Table 2 - Collected Data from Field Surveys
ENGINEER
58

ENGINEER 4

Rainfall data of the event of 18
th
July 2008,
which had been recorded at three hour
intervals, were collected from the Irrigation
Department at Matara because the flooded
information collected from the field were
pertaining to this event. As in Figure 02, time
series was developed assuming uniform rainfall
over three hour periods.

2.2 Model Development

The Watershed was delineated on 1:10000 topo
sheets and then major sub catchments were
drawn. These were used to develop the
watershed schematic as in Figure 03 and a
SWMM model was developed. Collected data were
used to generate flood situation for a known rainfall
event. According to the terrain, fourteen sub
catchments having a slope between 8.8% - 0.2%
and an area between 0.05km
2
- 0.3km
2
area
variations were identified.
A canal was modelled using fourteen junctions
as indicated in Figure 03. Due to lack of data,
each canal section was assumed to be
rectangular and has the same roughness value.
The dynamic behaviour of water was simulated
by allowing ponding at each junction.

Junction Flood height (m)
J1 1.219
J3 0.762
J4 o.305
J5 0.152
J6 0.305
R
a
i
n
f
a
l
l

(
m
m
)

Table 3 - Past Flood Heights indicated by
the stake holders
Figure 3 - Schematic Diagram of the Watershed

Time (months)
Figure 2 - Distribution of Rainfall

-Subcatchment
-Junction
S1

(0.24 km
2
)

S2
(0.058km
2
)

S14 (0.20 km
2
)

S9
(0.09km
2
)

S11 (0.07 km
2
)

S12

(0.069 km
2
)

S13
(0.16km
2
)

S10
(0.076 km
2
)

S6
(0.027km
2
)

S4
(0.029km
2
)

S3 (0.012 km
2
)

S8
(0.14km
2
)

S7 (0.029 km
2
)

S5 (0.031 km
2
)

59
ENGINEER

ENGINEER 5

Due to the limitation of time and resources, the
ponding areas at each junction were calculated
by observations. Using stakeholder
information about ponding area, each area was
averaged as reservoirs with an averaged
rectangular base to compute the flood heights
from the model calculated flood volumes.
Results are shown the Table 04.

2.3 Model calibration

The developed model was calibrated using
flood locations and flood heights that were
collected from the stakeholders (Table 03). A
set of input parameters obtained from literature
and compatible with the field conditions were
used to develop the model and the outputs
were observed. Since the model only provides
the flood quantity of a particular node as a
volume the conversions to heights was done as
described earlier.
Due to limited actual flood data availability the
calibration was limited to this single event.

According to the junction flooding summary
from SWMM5, the junctions J1,J3, J4 and J6
were found as critical junctions that were
significantly flooded. Comparison of the
modelled flood heights and stakeholder flood
heights are indicated in Table 04.
Since the model gives approximate flood
heights with the stake holders data, it can be
decided that this model can be applied for
modelling of urban watersheds.

After the model development, the sensitivity of
the parameters was checked by changing canal
roughness, subcatchment slope, manning
roughness values within reasonable limits.

3. Option Identification
It is essential to provide some suitable options
for this stormwater problem in this Walgama
area as it severely affected the human day-to-
day life. But, we have to consider an option that
would incur a low cost as well as the ability to
mitigate the current problem.

Since most of the canals were silted and
vegetated, obstruction for the flow of water is
high and, as a result, the Mannings roughness
value taken for each canal was very high. As a
solution, removing vegetation from the canal
with proper maintenance was considered as an
option. The model outputs were observed for
this scenario. The key options considered for
the system are shown in the last column of
Table 05. According to the results, concreting
the canal and increasing the depth of the canal
will not bring about a significant flood
reduction.

At the same time, improving detention capacity
was also identified as an effective way to
attenuate peak flow in the catchment. A
marshy land at the beginning of the canal was
observed and this was targeted as detention
storage. Increasing of canal depth, concreting
canals were some other options that are
considered in this study.

Table 05 indicates the actual flood quantity and
quantity of flood reduction for each option
available. A reduction of Canal roughness from
0.2 to 0.015 reduced the flood peak by 56%.
After the introduction of a rectangular
detention unit with a floor area of 200 m
2
at the
junction J1 together with the reduction of canal
roughness in the entire canal network, the
flooding status of the project area change to
zero flooding at all nodes. The water surface
profile for this situation for the calculated
rainfall event is shown in Figure 04.

Node Stake Holders
Flood Height(m)
Flood Volume Given
by Model(m
3
)
Estimated Ponded
Area(m
2
)
Flood Height
from Model(m)
J1 1.219 28109 22500 1.243
J3 0.762 7983 10000 0.792
J4 0.305 1280 4000 0.32
J5 0.152 0 2500 0
J6 0.305 5364 10000 0.518
Table 4 - Model Calibration Data
ENGINEER
60

ENGINEER 6

4. Discussion

This study demonstrates the capability of
mathematical modeling of ungauged watershed
to evaluate the stormwater problems. Matching
of model outputs and the field data was
reasonable considering the data limitations and
it could be identified that more spatially and
temporally detailed field data could produce
better results. In the modelling no tidal effect
was considered and the computations assumed
free flow conditions. This is a limitation in the
computations. However the present work
revealed the successful development of a
mathematical stormwater model for the project
area.
Applying storm water models for urban areas
having flat terrain and many human

interventions is a challenge when it is
ungauged because such situations require finer
spatial and temporal resolutions in parameter
values and also in the flow quantities. Since the
urban areas are dynamic, it is difficult to get the
updated values for parameters like land cover
changes if proper gauging and frequent data
collections are not carried out. The present
modelling shows that in the absence of detailed
field data, the next best option of collecting
reasonable field data would provide solutions
that could be proposed with engineering
judgements leading to delivering parameter
ranges that enable identification of problem
areas and trying out a variety of options.
The usage of stormwater models for various
canal and catchment conditions, parameters
required by the model, procedure of measuring
parameters in the field for results verification in
the absence of gauged data were some of the
Condition System
flooding
(m
3
)
Flood
quantity
reduction%
Action
Present situation as
identified in the field
41458 Average canal depth 1.8m, canal roughness
0.02
Remove vegetation of the
canals
18132 56 canal roughness(N) reduced from 0.02 to
upto 0.025
Concrete all canals 17397 58 canal roughness(N) reduced from 0.02 upto
0.015
Manings n changed and
with a canal depth increase
16882 59 canal roughness(N) reduced from 0.02 upto
0.015, Canal depth increasd up to 1.25m
Manings n changed &
introduction of a
storage unit
No
flooding
100 Add a rectangular storage unit at junction
J1 having a flood area of 200m
2

Table 5 - Comparison of Available Options

Figure 4 - Water Elevation Profile along the Canal

800 1000 1200 600
Existing top level of the
conduit
Maximum top level of
the conduit
J5 J6
J12
1
2
3
4
0 200 400 1800 1400 1600
J10 J11
Distance (m)
J7
J8
J9 J1
J2
J3
J4
E
l
e
v
a
t
i
o
n

(
m
)

Water Elevation at
node
Water Elevation along
the canal
61
ENGINEER

ENGINEER 7
critical situations that were faced during the
study. To overcome the data scarce situation,
the present work carried out an in-depth study
of the modelling concepts to identify the
parameter values that could be measured in the
field for use either as base data or to make
judgements over standard guideline
recommendations. Also in the present work a
demonstration was made that assessment of
stakeholder information could be wisely used
for model calibration. Though it is common for
modellers to wait for base data, this type of
approximate modelling can be initiated as the
first step and then strengthen the results with a
more focussed data collection and a follow up
modelling programme. This work also
presented that the potential of SWMM5 to
produce the dynamic flow behaviour can also
be effectively used for engineering advantage.
In the present work, assessment of model
outputs with parameter variations recognised
that it is necessary to be careful about the
following to arrive at more reliable outputs.

1. Variation of canal section and
roughness values along the canal.
2. Identification of base data for model
calibration and verification
3. Maps at a resolution of better than
1:10,000 scales or with elevation data at
a higher spatial resolution.
4. Planning of field data collection
programms and recognition of base
data requirements prior to visits.
5. Tidal action must be taken into account
during modelling of coastal
watersheds.

5. Conclusions

Major conclusions of this study can be
summarized as follows.
1. SWMM 5 can be used to simulate the
ungauged urban catchments which
have to be studied considering the
dynamic nature of human influences.
However, for very specific and accurate
results from the model, then, it is
necessary to initiate comprehensive
data collection programmes.

2. The most sensitive parameter for the
out flow is canal roughness and
reducing the value from 0.02 to 0.015
caused a 56% reduction in the flood
peak.
3. If an option of detention storage is
provided together with canal cleaning,
achieving a Mannings roughness
coefficient of 0.015 indicated that 100%
flood reduction can be achieved for the
considered storm.
4. Increasing of canal depth and
concreting of the canal with a
roughness value of 0.015 resulted in
only a 1% reduction of flood peak
value.
References

1. Chouli. E, Aftias, E & Deutsch, J.C, Applying
Storm Water Management in Greek Cities:
learning from the European Experience, Science
Direct, Faculty of Civil Engineering,
National Technical University of Athens,
2005.

2. Chow, V. T., Maidment, D. R. & Mays, L.
W. Applied Hydrology, New York etc.,
McGraw-Hill. (0-07-010810-2),1998.

3. David, E, Farley.J & Haynes, C, Design and
Routing of Storm Flows in an Urbanized
Watershed without Surface Streams, Journal of
Hydrology, Department of Civil and
Environmental Engineering, Duke
University USA.

4. Marsalek,J, -CisnerosB.E.J, Karamouz,A &
Chocat.B, Urban Water Cycle Processes and
Interactions, International Hydrological
Programme, Technical Documents in
Hydrology, No. 78,UNESCO, 2006.

5. Maidment, D.R., Hand Book of Hydrology. 1
st

ed. New York: McGraw Hill Book
Company, 1993.

6. Polaskava K., Hlavinek P., Haloan R.,
Integrated Approach for Protection of an Urban
Catchment Area. Institute of Municipal
Water Management, Brno University of
Technology, 2005.

7. http://www.epa.gov/ednnrmrl/models/s
wmm/index.htm Visited 23
rd
December
2009.

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Vol. XXXXIV, No. 04, October 2011

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