Solomon Seyoum

Learning objectives
Upon successful completion of this lecture, the
participants will be able to:
Describe and perform the required step for designing

sewer system networks

Outline
Design philosophy
Constraints and assumptions
Design steps
Design criteria
Design example

Design philosophy
A sewer system is a network of pipes used to convey

storm runoff and/or wastewater in an area.

The design of sewer system involves the determination

of

diameters,
slopes, and
crown or invert elevations for each pipe in the system

Constraints and assumptions

Free surface flow exits for the design discharges;
that is, the sewer system is designed for gravity flow;
pumping stations and pressurized sewers should be

avoided as much as possible (are not considered here)

The sewers are of commercially available circular sizes

The design diameter is the smallest commercially

available pipe having flow capacity equal to or greater

than the design discharge and satisfying all the
appropriate constraints

Constraints and assumptions

Sewers must be placed at a depth such that they
will not be susceptible to frost,
will be able to drain basements, and
will have sufficient cushioning to prevent breakage due
to ground surface loading.
To these ends, minimum cover depths must be specified.
The sewers are joined at junctions such that the crown

elevation of the upstream sewer is no lower that of the

downstream sewer

Constraints and assumptions

To prevent or reduce excessive deposition of solid material in

the sewers, a minimum permissible flow velocity at design

discharge or at barely full-pipe gravity flow is specified

To prevent scour and other undesirable effects of high-

velocity flow, a maximum permissible flow velocity is also

specified

At any junction or manhole, the downstream sewer cannot be

smaller than any of the upstream sewers at that junction

The sewer system is a dendritic, or branching, network

converging in the downstream direction without closed loops

Design Steps
Step 1 - Topographical map
Obtain or develop a map of the contributing area
Add location and level of existing or proposed details
such as:

Contours
physical features (e.g. rivers)
road layout
Buildings
sewers and other services
outfall point (e.g. near lowest point, next to receiving water
body)

Design Steps
Step 2 - Preliminary horizontal layout
Sketch preliminary system layout (horizontal
alignment):

locate pipes so all potential users can readily connect into the
system
try to locate pipes perpendicular to contours
try to follow natural drainage patterns
locate manholes in readily-accessible positions

Design Steps
Step 3- Preliminary sewer sizing
Establish preliminary pipe sizes and gradients
Step 4 - Preliminary vertical layout
Draw preliminary longitudinal profiles (vertical
alignment):

ensure pipes are deep enough so all users can connect into the
system
try to locate pipes parallel to the ground surface
ensure pipes arrive above outfall level
avoid pumping if possible

Design Steps
Step 5 - Revise layout
Revise the horizontal and/or vertical alignment to
minimise system cost by reducing pipe:

Lengths
Sizes
depths

Design Criteria
The following criteria need to be formulated for design of

sewer systems:

peak rates of dry weather flow (wastewater + groundwater

infiltration)
heavy producers of wastewater
allowance for illicit rain water connections to sanitary sewers
design storm
runoff coefficient
Pipe profiles (and materials)
hydraulic friction constants
minimum slopes of sewers
outlet levels (maximum water level, invert for storm water)

Design Criteria
For a large urban area the runoff factor and the wastewater

production are related to the unit area and classified into a

number of classes
Dry weather flow production rate
District/ Population
Water
density
consumption
Area
p/ha

l/p/d

Water
loses
l/p/d

Wastewater production
Average
l/p/d

l/s/ha

Peak factor Maximum

l/s/ha

1
2
3
Total

Heavy producers of wastewater - Determine design flow rate

of heavy sewage producers

Design Criteria
Infiltration to sewer pipes
Assume specific rate of groundwater infiltration (in l/s/
ha) for sewers with their invert located below the
groundwater table
Allowance for illicit inflow
Compile available sewer sizes

Design Criteria
Storm water quantities
The amount of storm water to be transported is
determined with the rational method.

Indicate what design frequency (return period) is used

Determine the rainfall intensity - duration curve for the
required frequency
Indicate runoff coefficients

Design Criteria
Hydraulic criteria
Steady and uniform flow conditions are assumed
Usually Colebrook-White formula is used for the

design of circular conduits:

k
2.51
s
V 2 2 gS f D log10

3.7 D D 2 gS D
f

where

ks pipe roughness (m)

Sf hydraulic gradient or friction slope, hf /L (m/m)
kinematic viscosity (m2/s)

Design Criteria
Non-circular profiles (open channels, box profiles) are

designed with the Manning formula or any other

experimental formula
Manning:

1 23 12
v= R S
n
where: n is roughness factor

Design Criteria
Determine the hydraulic performance of selected

profiles
Establish partial flow diagrams if necessary

Design Criteria
P = D

T = D sin

D2
=
A
( 2 sin 2 )
8

D
=
y
(1 cos )
2

D sin 2
=
Rh
1

4
2

Design Criteria
Minimum slopes of sewers
To assure that sewers will carry suspended sediment,
two approaches have been used:

the minimum (or self-cleansing) velocity and

the minimum boundary shear stress method, also called the
tractive force

self-cleansing - a full-pipe velocity of at least 0.6 m/s

Design Criteria
Tractive force

gRh s
The required minimum tractive force of the flow should

be larger than the resistance of the sediments (min) or

the critical tractive force which is given by the following
formula;

=
min fgd ( g w )
where

d = selected specific diameter of sediment (grit) (from the sieve

analysis)
f = a constant called Shields parameter, for sewers f=0.056

Design Criteria
Criteria for discharge -Maximum discharge levels

(invert level of the outlet pipe)

Sanitary sewers

Storm sewers

Design period Select suitable design period:

population and industrial growth rate

water consumption growth rate.

Design Storm Select suitable design storm:

return period

intensity

duration.

Contributing area Quantify:

domestic population

unit water consumption

commercial/industrial output

infiltration.

Contributing area
Quantify:

catchment area

surface types

imperviousness.

Dry weather flows. Select design methodCalculate:

dry weather flows

peak flow-rates.

Runoff flows Select design method - Calculate:

peak flow-rates and/or

hydrographs.

Hydraulic design Establish hydraulic constraints:

pipe roughness

velocities

depths.
Calculate pipe:

sizes

gradients

depth.

Calculation tables
The design of sewers can be accomplished by using

design tables and steps provided in the lecture note

Example
Design the a storm drain network for the arae shown

in the figure below for a rain fall intensity of 1 year

return period given by the following equation. Use
inlet time of 5 min and minimum concentration time
of 10 min. The design criteria are given in Table .

195
i = 0.708
t

Example
The runoff coefficient classes are as follows;
Clas Runoff
s
coefficient C
A
0.10
B

0.35

0.65

0.85

Design criteria
Diameter

Minimum
slope

0.25
0.30
0.40
0.50
0.60
0.70
0.80
0.90
1.00

4.0
3.3
2.5
2.0
1.7
1.4
1.25
1.11
1.00

Full capacity

Flow
(m3/s)

Velocity
(m/s)

0.038
0.056
0.105
0.169
0.252
0.343
0.461
0.595
0.741

0 78
0.79
0.83
0.86
0.89
0.89
0.92
0.93
0.94

 key
A

B
C

E F
G
H

A = Drainage sub-area number

B = Area in hectares
C = Class of runoff coefficient

E
F
G
H

=
=
=
=

Manhole number
Ground level
Invert level upstream sewer
Invert level downstream sewer

9.00
7.23
7.03

11 0.75
B

13

L=100m 0.30

12

L=100m 0.40

L=100m 0.25

3 0.88

9.80
7.55

8.70
7.15
7.10

0.62

4
D

12 0.38 6
B

L=100m 0.40

L=100m 0.40
9.10
7.65

9 0.88

9.20
6.90
6.80

9.30
7.90

1.5

8
B

L=100m 0.50
5

1.5

5 0.75

10.00
8.60

L=100m 0.90
9.00
6.69

9.80
8.35

7 0.75

9.00
6.43

L=100m 0.90

L=100m 0.40
2

L=100m 0.60

11

L=100m 0.80

10 1.5

1.5

1.0

2
9.00
7.60
7.40

10

L=100m 0.30
8.80
7.37

9.20
7.90

End