Environmental Challenges 2 (2021) 100014

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Environmental Challenges
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/envc

The simplified design method of permeable pavement system for urban

catchment
Yao-Ming Hong
Master Program of Green technology for Sustainability, Nanhua University, Taiwan

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Keywords: Climate change increases the probability of extreme rainfall events, which results in large-scale flooding in urban
Climate change areas. Yet, urban areas are often too crowded to build flood detention facilities. To cope with this issue, this study
Permeable pavement system developed a simplified design method of a permeable pavement system. Firstly, the detention volume calcula-
Surface infiltration rate
tion method for the underground detention pond was established. Secondly, a novel permeable pavement system
Underground detention pond
named JW pavement was used as an example to verify the feasibility of the development method for the under-
ground detention pond. Thirdly, the surface infiltration rate and the void ratio of a gravel layer were measured.
Finally, the equation of the thickness required for the gravel layer was established based on the requirement of
flood detention volume. To sum up, the thicker a gravel layer is, the more capable a gravel layer is to protect
the city from flooding. The urban flood can be reduced by the combination of a high surface infiltration rate
permeable pavement system and a thick underground detention pond.

1. Introduction trometer and double-ring (DR) infiltrometer. When comparing the same
calculation technique for both SR and DR, both methods gave equiv-
Global warming increases the frequency and the magnitude of ex- alent Kfs estimations. DR can reduce the effects of horizontal infiltra-
treme rainfall events. Existing urban drainage systems were constructed tion to obtain an accurate vertical infiltration. The American Society
on the previous meteorological observation data, and might not be suit- for Testing and Materials (ASTM) developed the standard test method
able for nowadays or future climate conditions (Kang et al., 2016). As for the SIR of Pervious Concrete (ASTM, 2009) and Permeable Unit
such, a new approach to urban water management is essential. The idea Pavement Systems (ASTM, 2014). Because of the labor intensity of the
of sponge city can be achieved if impervious pavements in places such test method developed by ASTM, numerous researchers suggested im-
as road or parking lot can be replaced by permeable pavement, in which proved methods. Winston et. al.,(2016) compared the ASTM test using
the flood can be stored underground or in a detention pond. A profile a constant-head method and a simple infiltration test (SIT) employing
of a typical permeable pavement section in the USA includes a type falling-head techniques under varying conditions. SIT has the advan-
of permeable pavement on top, an underlying bedding layer, a base tages which include (1) is conducted using easily acquired materials,
or choker layer, and finally a subbase or finally a subbase or storage (2) has a larger surface area, and (3) requires less time to conduct than
gallery (Razzaghmanesh and Beecham, 2018). The effluent from PPS the ASTM test (Winston et al., 2016). U.S. Environmental Protection
has a fewer amount of suspending solids and a more concentrated ratio Agency constructed a 0.4-ha parking lot that surfaced with PICP, PC,
of heavy metals than runoff water from asphalt pavements (Brattebo and and PA. The results indicated that the ASTM test may apply to PICP;
Booth, 2003; Drake et al., 2014; Rushton, 2001). however, for PA, further evaluation is needed (Brown and Borst, 2014).
From the perspective of flood control, the surface infiltration rate Valeo and Gupta (2018) adopted the high-resolution cellphone camera
(SIR) of PPS should be higher than the formation rate of runoff water to to acquire the pavement images and converted them to grayscale images
discharge surface water. SIR of PPS should be higher than the formation for analysis. The gray levels distribution of pavement images was com-
rate of overland flow to discharge surface water. Concrete grid pavers pared to the SIR obtained with attention given to the mean of the distri-
(CGP), permeable interlocking concrete pavers (PICP), porous concrete bution. The relationships between mean SIR and parameters determined
(PC), and porous asphalt (PA) are the three most used PPS. There are from the gray level distribution produced in the image analysis revealed
several methods to measure the SIR of PPS. Verbist et al. (2010) de- that mean SIR was proportional to the inverse of the mean of the distri-
termined the field saturated hydraulic conductivity Kfs by using two bution. Researches showed that permeable pavements become clogged
different measurement equipment, including the single-ring (SR) infil- over time and this reduces SIR (Lucke et al., 2014; Yong et al., 2013).
Yong et al. (2013) developed a simple black-box regression model to pre-
dict physical clogging by a function of cumulative volume and Brisbane
E-mail address: hongyaoming@gmail.com climatic conditions. Lucke et. al.(2014) inundated a large area of the

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envc.2020.100014
Received 20 October 2020; Received in revised form 16 December 2020; Accepted 17 December 2020
2667-0100/© 2020 The Author. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Y.-M. Hong Environmental Challenges 2 (2021) 100014

Fig. 1. Typical formation of the underground

detention pond.

pavement to determine the infiltration rate through the pavement sur- Taiwan since 2002. The JW pavement has also been proved to be able to
face and concluded that the new falling head full-scale testing method dilute vehicle pollutant emissions near the ground by 40%–87% within
produced the most accurate results. Rainfall patterns, as well as pave- 5 min of emission (Liu et al., 2012), and had the loadbearing capa-
ment slope, significantly affect the SIR of clogged permeable materials, bility, permeability, water storage capacity, breathability, underground
being higher after long and intense rainfall events and for lower pave- ecosystem enrichability, affordability, and sustainability (Gohari et al.,
ment slopes (Brugin et al., 2017). 2015). This study developed a simplified design method for PPS. Lab-
When water infiltrates into the ground, the underground detention oratory and field experiments were conducted to obtain the discharge
pond (UDP) is usually adopted to store/discharge the floodwater tem- coefficient of a water delivery pipe, which was installed in the JW pave-
porarily by storing water for a time in the base and then slowly re- ment. The simplified method for the selection of permeable pavement
leasing it through pipes. Liu et. al. (2012)designed a gravel layer under and the estimation of the detention volume for UDP was established and
the PPS to store flood between gravel pores temporarily. Natarajan and applied in two kinds of design examples.
Davis (2010) implemented six interconnected high-density polyethylene
storage pipes below the ground to store floodwater temporarily. Lai and
2. Material and methods
Mah (2012) and Benisi Ghadim et al. (2016) designed the UDP structure
including a gravel layer, storage module enclosed in geotextile or hydro
2.1. The detention volume calculation of underground detention pond
net, and sand layer from top to bottom.
Sponge city is made of porous surfaces and spaces capable of keep-
Fig. 1 depicts a typical PPS, which includes permeable pavement,
ing water, which include permeable roads and sidewalks, green roofs,
an UDP to storage flood temporally, and an underground drainage pipe
wetlands, and natural vegetation. Flood routing is the technique of de-
to discharge flood into the ditch or detention pond. The inflow rate of
termining the flood hydrograph or peak flow at the catchment area.
UDP is the runoff, and the outflow of UDP is the discharge rate of un-
The Detention pond is one of the most important facilities in sponge
derground drainage pipe.
city. Previous researchers developed the flood routing method of de-
Overland flow occurs when excess rainwater can no longer suffi-
tention pond based on the hydrological continuity equation (Chen and
ciently rapidly infiltrate the soil. To avoid the flooding in the catchment,
Hong, 1999; 2002; Hong, 2008a, 2008b, 2010; Hong et al., 2006). Better
the requirement of PPS includes: (1) SIR should be bigger than the gen-
Assessment Science Integrating Point and Nonpoint Sources (BASINS)
eration of overland flow, and (2) UDP should have enough capacity to
is a multi-purpose tool, which included Hydrological Simulation Pro-
store the flood temporally. Fig. 2 displays the design procedure for the
gram—Fortran (HSPF), Soil Water Assessment Tool (SWAT), Stormwa-
PPS.
ter Management Model (SWMM), and Water Quality Analysis Simula-
The hydrological continuity equation can be used to describe the
tion Program (WASP) (Crossette et al., 2015). SWMM and HSPF are
relationship between the inflow/outflow and storage volume of the de-
widely used to evaluate the impacts of urban development on the wa-
tention pond (Chow, 1988) as follows:
tersheds scale. SWMM is a detailed model for planning and preliminary
design (Elliott and Trowsdale, 2007). Ahiablame and Shakya (2016) as- 𝑑𝑠
=𝑖−𝑜 (1a)
sessed flood reduction capabilities of large-scale adoption of low im- 𝑑𝑡
pact development (LID) practices in an urban catchment in central Illi- where i is the inflow discharge; o is the outflow discharge; s is the storage
nois using SWMM and this modeling effort indicated an average an- depending on the difference between inflow and outflow. If the SIR of
nual runoff reduction between 11% and 39% for porous pavement. PPS is higher than rainfall depth, all of the rainfall will discharge into
Ghadim and Hin (2017) used the SWMM model to describe the over- the UDP. o is the outflow from the UDP into the ditch or base soil. The
land flow routing and Soil Conservation Service Method (SCS) used to storm volume will be
model infiltration or subsurface flow. Results showed that the runoff ra-
tio exchange between the surface and subsurface is 60 to 90%. Choi and 𝑣𝑓 = 𝑖 × 𝑑𝑡 (1b)
Deal (2008) adopted HSPF to calibrate the Kishwaukee River basin in ∫
the Midwestern USA and run with various land-use scenarios generated The flood hydrograph depends on the hydrological/geographic con-
either by the urban growth model (LEAMluc) or hypothetically. Nayeb dition. Simplified triangular inflow/outflow hydrographs of detention
Yazd et al. (2019) compared the ability of SWMM and HSPE at simu- pond were usually adopted in the calculation of detention volume for
lating streamflow, peak flow, and baseflow from an urban catchment. short-duration rainfall events (Hong et al., 2006). The peak time tp is
HSPF simulated baseflow better than SWMM, while, SWMM simulated defined as the time from base flow to peak flow. The recession time tr is
peak flow better than HSPF. defined as the time from peak flow to base flow. Defining 𝛽 = tp /tr for
JW pavement according to its inventor’s name, is a high-load-bearing triangular inflow.
permeable pavement with patents in more than 100 countries. JW pave- The 𝛽 calculated by Soil Conservation Service (Cronshey, 1986)
ment has already been used by the manufacture Ding Tai Co, LTD. in is 1.67 which was derived from a large number of natural unit

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Y.-M. Hong Environmental Challenges 2 (2021) 100014

Fig. 4. The schematic diagram of JW pavement.

fied relationship between Sp and Op for triangular inflow/outflow can

be described as following (Hong et al., 2006).

S p = 1 −O p (2a)

Substituting Eq. (1c) into(2a), sp will be

( )
𝑖𝑝 𝑇 1 − 𝑂𝑝
𝑠𝑝 = (2b)
2
Eq. (2b) is a simplified equation of detention volume for UDP.

2.2. Description of JW pavement

Fig. 2. Design procedure of permeable pavement system.
This study adds the JW pavement as the PPS. The infiltration rate of
JW pavement is determined by the discharge coefficient of the perme-
hydrographs from watersheds varying widely in size and geographical able tube, the void ratio/thickness/permeability of the gravel layer, the
location. Taiwan Provincial Government Water Resources Department permeability of base soil, the outflow rate to ditch, and the antecedent
selected many unit hydrographs from 42 watersheds to develop its na- precipitation. Assuming the base soil is saturated with water and there’s
tive dimensionless unit hydrograph with 𝛽 equals 2.277(Hong, 2008a). no outflow into the ditch, the void ratio of the gravel layer will deter-
Fig. 3 displays the dimensionless triangular inflow/outflow hydrograph mine the minimum storage volume. The initial infiltration rate will be
for 𝛽 =1.67 and op /ip =0.6. equal to the discharge coefficient of the permeable tube due to the large
Assuming the inflow hydrograph of the detention pond is triangular pores in the gravel layer. The final infiltrate rate will decline to zero
(Chen and Hong, 1999), Eq. (1b) will be when the gravel layer is filled with water. Fig. 4 displays the profile of
𝑖𝑝 × 𝑇 JW pavement with UDP. The top-down configuration is:
𝑣𝑓 = (1c)
2 (1) The runoff depth Hw ; The runoff is the inflow of the detention
where ip is the peak discharge; T is the rainfall duration. pond.
Defining the maximum permeable peak outflow op , the maximum (2) 15 cm thick concrete pavement, with permeable tube spacing of
storage volume of UDP sp , the dimensionless peak outflow Op (ip /op, ), 10 cm, the inlet pipe diameter of 1 cm, two kinds of outlet pipe
and the dimensionless maximum storage volume Sp (sp /vf ). The simpli- diameter 1.2 cm, and 1.5 cm, respectively. The control area of

Fig. 3. Dimensionless relationship between detention volume and inflow/outflow hydrograph for 𝛽 =1.67 and op /ip =0.6.

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Y.-M. Hong Environmental Challenges 2 (2021) 100014

Fig. 5. The construction process of JW pavement. (a)Gravel is laid on the ground; (b)The water guide frame is placed on the gravel layer; (c)The concrete is poured
to fill the void; (d)The finished JW pavement.

every permeable tube is 121 cm2 (11 cm × 11 cm). The runoff id of 1m2 is
will ditch into the gravel layer through the permeable tube, which ( )
is similar to a circular weir with free discharge. id = 81 Q = 2.54 Cd H1.5 m3 ∕sec (3b)
(3) The permeable gravel layer, the thickness of Hg ; The flood can If Cd and H are known, id can be calculated by Eq. (3b).
be stored in the gravel layer temporally, which is the detention If the groundwater level is lower than the gravel layer, the flood
pond of PPS. The underground drainage pipe can be installed at can discharge into the gravel layer smoothly. The acrylic model of JW
the bottom of the gravel layer to discharge the flood. pavement is shown in Fig. 5, where the length and the width are also
(4) The permeable base soil layer, the thickness of Hb ; During the 58 cm, the height above the permeable tube is 10.5 cm, and the depth
storm period, the infiltration rate of base soil can be ignored. under the permeable tube 80 cm. Sealed the boundary of the acrylic
The outflow of the detention pond is the discharge rate into the model to prevent the leaking, the number of remaining permeable tubes
ditch or channel. If no channel or ditch within the design area, is 16 with the relative control area is 1936cm2 (121cm2 × 16). The
the gravel layer is the retention pond. height above the JW pavement is the maximum overland flow depth.
(5) The impermeable rock layer. The procedure of the laboratory experiment was illustrated as fol-
lows:
Fig. 5 displays the construction process. Firstly, the gravel is laid on
the ground (Fig. 4(a)). The water guide frame is placed on the gravel A Put a drainage pipe above the JW pavement (Fig. 7(a)).
(Fig. 4(b)), and concrete is poured within the void (Fig. 4(c)). The cover B Pour a steady flow into the JW pavement (Fig. 7(b)). When the
of the water guide frame is then removed to finish the construction pro- steady water depth H above the JW pavement reaches, the water
cess (Fig. 4(d)). depth of the storage area was recorded as h1 , and the timing started.
C When the water depth of the storage area was reached the maximum
2.3. The discharge equation of permeable tube water depth h2 , the timing stops. The storage time t was recorded,
and the rising water height h = h2 -h1 .
The permeable tube should drain the flood as fast as possible, to pre- Finally, the storage volume V = 58 × 58 × h = 3364 h (cm3 ), and the
vent too much stagnant water above the ground. The permeable tubes total discharge Qt =V/t (cm3 /sec). The discharge of a single permeable
of JW pavement in Fig. 4 can be treated as a series of morning glory tube is Qs =Qt /16.
spillway (Hong, 2008a), where the equation of discharge Q is

Q = Cd LH1.5 (3a) 2.4. The depth of the underground detention pond

where Cd is the discharge coefficient; L = 2𝜋Rs , is the perimeter of the In Taiwan, the rational formula is used to calculate the peak inflow
permeable tube; H is the water depth above the ground; Rs is the ra- ip for the urban drainage system (Ministry of Transportation and Com-
dius of the permeable tube. Based on the number of permeable tube=81 munications, 2009).
within the unit area (1 m × 1 m) in JW pavement, the radius of the
permeable tube is 0.5 cm, and L = 0.0628318 m, the inflow discharge ip = CIA (4a)

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Y.-M. Hong Environmental Challenges 2 (2021) 100014

Fig. 6. Model of JW pavement. (a)The top view dis-

plays that the structure of the water guide frame can
enhance the stability of the pavement; (b) Side view
shows that the water depth can be measured by the
scale.

Fig. 7. The laboratory experiment of the discharge coefficient. (a) The water supply pipe was placed above the model; (b) Three kinds of discharge were adopted to
pour the model, to obtain the discharge coefficient.

where C is the runoff coefficient, which equals 1 for the impervious 2.5. The reduction of SIR due to the gravel layer
layer; A is the urban catchment area, I can be estimated by the Horner
formula. After the water flows into the ground, the permeability of the gravel
I = a∕(T + b) c
(4b) layer and the effect of antecedent rainfall will influence the SIR of JW
pavement. If the infiltration rate below the JW pavement is smaller than
where T is the rainfall duration; a, b, and c are empirical coefficients that the flow rate of the permeable tube, the surface water cannot drainage
depend on the location of the urban catchment and vary with the return into the ground. Therefore, the infiltration rate of the gravel layer will
period of rainfall (Bureau of Reclamation, 1965). The flood volume for control the disappearance rate of surface water. A double-ring infiltrom-
triangular inflow can be calculated by Eq. (1c). eter is usually used to measure the field saturated hydraulic conductiv-
CIA × T ity (Verbist et al., 2010). Bean et. al. (2007) and Collins et. al. (2008)
𝑣𝑓 = (4c)
2 adopted a double-ring infiltrometer to measure the infiltration rate of
The maximum storage volume sp is the pore volume vp of the gravel PPS. A double-ring infiltrometer consists of two concentrically placed
layer, which can be defined. rings, both filled with water. The rate of infiltration into the ground
sp = Hg × Vr × Apps (4d) within the inner ring is measured, while the water in the outer ring pro-
where Vr is the void ratio; Apps is the area of PPS. Hg is the depth of the vides a buffer to ensure the direct downward movement of water below
gravel layer, which can be obtained by the inner ring. This study manufactured a special specification to match
the position of the permeable tube. The inner ring of height 30 cm and
Hg = sp ∕(Vr × Apps ) (4e) diameter 20 cm is used to measure the infiltration rate of 4 permeable
Defining 𝛼=Apps /A, is the area ratio of permeable pavement to the tubes. The outer ring of height 30 cm and diameter 40 cm is used to
urban catchment. For retention pond, sp = vf , Hg can be estimated by form a buffer to ensure the direct downward movement of water below
Eq. (3c) and (3c) the ground by 8 permeable tubes. Fig. 7 displays the measurement con-
CI𝑇 dition of the JW pavement. The concrete placing for the model of JW
H𝑔 = (4f)
2𝑉𝑟 𝛼 pavement displays in Fig. 8(a), where the thickness of concrete = 15 cm.
Eqs. (4e) and (4f) represents the minimum depth of the gravel layer Fig. 8(b) displays the configuration of the field test. The gap between
to avoid flooding in the surface ground. the ring and pavement was sealed with gypsum paste.

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Y.-M. Hong Environmental Challenges 2 (2021) 100014

Fig. 8. The field test of JW pavement (a) The concrete placing for the model of JW pavement; (b) the installation of the double-ring infiltrometer.

Table 1
The discharge coefficient of permeable tube measured by the laboratory experiment.

H (cm) h (cm) V (cm3 ) t (sec) Qt (cm3 /sec) Qs (cm3 /sec) Cd Average Cd

5 44.5 149,698 110.12 1359.41 84.96 2.42 2.42

5 43.5 146,334 102.25 1431.14 89.45 2.55
5 43.5 146,334 112.32 1302.83 81.43 2.32
5 43.5 146,334 108.51 1348.58 84.29 2.40
3.5 45 151,380 190.14 796.15 49.76 2.42 2.50
3.5 45 151,380 170.28 889.01 55.56 2.70
3.5 44.5 149,698 183.58 815.44 50.96 2.48
3.5 45 151,380 192.11 787.99 49.25 2.39
1.5 46 154,744 521.11 296.95 18.56 3.22 3.15
1.5 47 158,108 631.4 250.41 15.65 2.71
1.5 45 151,380 476.37 317.78 19.86 3.44
1.5 45.5 153,062 512.55 298.63 18.66 3.23

3. Result and discussion

3.1. Characteristic determination of underground detention pond

(1) Discharge coefficient of JW pavement

Firstly, the model of JW pavement was used to determine the dis-
charge coefficient of JW pavement. The discharge coefficient was ob-
tained from three kinds of water depth (H), where each depth was
repeated four times. Table 1 is the outcome of the laboratory exper-
iment, where the discharge coefficient decreases as the water level
increases, and the average Cd = 2.69. Fig. 9 describes the relation-
ship between water depth and discharge coefficient, where a linear
equation can be established between Cd and H. The functional equa-
tion is Cd =−0.2143H+3.4042, where the discharge coefficient becomes
smaller as the water depth becomes deeper.
Secondly, a double-ring infiltrometer was used to measure the re-
duction of SIR due to the gravel layer. Two kinds of gravel thicknesses
including 10 cm and 20 cm were adopted to measure the infiltration
Fig. 9. The relationship between water depth above the ground and discharge
rate of JW pavement. A constant head of water is maintained at 15 cm coefficient.
in depth above the ground surface. Water is poured into both rings until
it reaches 15 cm. The experiment time is one hour to reach a constant
infiltration rate. Fig. 10 is the discharge comparison between the mea- The gravel with the median grain size of 1 cm was adopted. The
surement value by double-ring infiltrometer and the calculation value procedure for measurement of void ratio was depicted below:
by Eq. (3a). The gravel layer reduces the SIR. A thicker gravel depth
will induce a bigger SIR. When gravel depth = 20 cm, the measured
A Select a container to fill with water to calculate the volume Vt, and
SIR is higher than the calculated value of Eq. 3(a) using the average
pouring out the water.
Cd = 2.69. Therefore, Eq. 3(a) overestimates the SIR when the thick-
B Put some gravel into the container, and shake the container to reduce
ness of the gravel layer = 20 cm. This study adopted the experimental
the void.
average Cd = 2.4 obtained by the 20 cm gravel depth.
C Repeat procedure B until the container with the full gravel.
(2) The void ratio of the underground detention pond
D Pour water Vv into the container to fill the void.

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Y.-M. Hong Environmental Challenges 2 (2021) 100014

Table 2
The calculation of rainfall intensity, peak runoff, and storm volume for one hour storm.

Return period (year) Parameters of Horner Formula Rainfall intensity (mm/hour) Peak runoff (m3 /sec) Flood volume (m3 )

a b c

2 887.04 11.05 0.6747 49.97 0.139 249.84

5 1369.49 20.26 0.6878 67.09 0.186 335.44
10 1905.13 32.19 0.7053 78.39 0.218 391.93
25 3329.11 60.04 0.7488 92.33 0.256 461.64
50 5923.76 96.7 0.8034 102.11 0.284 510.56

Table 3
The drainage discharge.

H (cm) Discharge (m3 /sec) of JW pavement

1m2 0.1 ha 1ha

0.25 0.00076 0.076 0.76

0.5 0.00216 0.216 2.16
1 0.00610 0.61 6.1
1.5 0.01120 1.12 11.2
2 0.01724 1.724 17.24

Table 4
The water depth above the JW pavement for peak runoff.

Return Period Peak runoff Inflow discharge H (cm)

(year) (m3 /sec) (m3 /sec)

2 0.139 0.00028 0.128

5 0.186 0.00037 0.155
10 0.218 0.00044 0.172
25 0.256 0.00051 0.192
50 0.284 0.00057 0.205

Fig. 10. The comparison between measured/calculated discharge. Eq. (4b) shown in Table 3. If JW pavement occupied 10% area of the ur-
ban community, water depth will be smaller than 1 cm for the 50 return
period flood. Therefore, JW pavement can be the candidate of PPS.
In this study, the container volume Vt =1.4m3, void volume (3) Calculation of surface water depth
Vv =0.44m3 , and the void ratio Vr = 31.4%. Assuming runoff flows into the JW pavement and drains into the
gravel layer, Table 4 displays the maximum water depth above the
3.2. Design the volume design of the underground detention pond ground for JW pavement = 500 m2 . The inflow discharge id is the peak
runoff per m2 , which is the value of peak runoff divided by the area of
To avoid urban flooding, the permeable tube should drain the runoff JW pavement. Therefore, H can be estimated by H=(id /(2.54Cd ))1/1.5
into the gravel layer as soon as possible, and UDP should be larger than derived from Eq. (3b). The small water depth in Table 4 represents that
the flood volume. Following the design procedure showing in Fig. 2, the permeable tube can remove the runoff immediately.
the simplified design method of PPS for urban catchment adopted the (4) The minimum depth of underground detention pond
common formula to estimate the flood volume and developed the depth Two cases were discussed in this study. One case has no drainage
calculation equations for surface water / underground detention pond system, and the total storm volume should be stored in the gravel layer.
under two drainage conditions as follows. Another case has the drainage system. When the flood exceeded the
(1) Design flood condition of urban community drainage capacity, the gravel layer can be used as the detention pond to
Assuming an urban community is located in Taipei City, Taiwan. The store the flood temporally.
underground detention pond is used to prevent short duration storm. Following the JW pavement example in Fig. 5, Fig. 11 displays the
The rainfall period T = 1hour for a short duration. The urban commu- road cross-section of JW pavement, which adds two ditches on both sides
nity didn’t have any permeable surface, C = 1 for the impervious layer. for the flood discharge of UDP and impervious pavement. JW pavement
Community Area is 1 ha. For the reduction of flooding, the road and is used to be road pavement. The gravel layer is the UDP to store flood
parking lots will change to permeable pavement such as JW pavement. temporally and discharge to the ditch.
The flood volume can be calculated by Eq. (4c). The extreme weather (a) Urban community with no drainage system
condition increases the rainfall intensity. The Flood control standard If there is no drainage system within the urban community, the wa-
should be increased to prevent flooding. Table 2 displays the calcula- ter stored in the gravel layer will infiltrate into the ground gradually
tion outcomes of rainfall intensity, peak runoff, and flood volume for depending on the infiltration coefficient of base soil. This study ignored
various return periods of the storm for the cover of flood prevention the infiltration volume to obtain a conservative estimation.
standards in the urban community. Hg can be calculated by Eq. (4f). Fig. 12 displays the relation-
(2)Selection of PPS ship between Hg and 𝛼 for various return periods for the void ratio
Using Cd =2.4, the drainage discharge of unit area (1m2 ) for var- Vt=31.4%. Hg is inversely proportional to 𝛼. If the maximum depth of
ious water depths and area of JW pavement can be calculated by Hg < 50 cm, the JW pavement percentage within the urban community

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Y.-M. Hong Environmental Challenges 2 (2021) 100014

Fig. 11. The cross-section of JW pavement.

Fig. 12. The relationship between the minimum depth of gravel layer Hg and Fig. 13. The relationship between the depth of the gravel layer and the area
JW pavement percentage 𝛼 for the condition of no drainage system. Hg is smaller ratio of JW pavement.
for more JW pavement. The longer return period will need deeper Hg .

3.3. The relationship between underground detention pond and peak

should be larger than 15% for the 2 year return period, and 35% for the outflow rate
50 years.
(b) Urban community with the drainage system Substituting Eq. (4a) into Eq. (2b), sp will be
In Taiwan, the drainage system is usually designed to drain the flood
𝐶𝐼𝐴 × 𝑇 ( )
with a return period of 2 years or 5 years (Ministry of Transportation 𝑠𝑝 = 1 − 𝑂𝑝 (5a)
2
and Communications, 2009). However, the effect of climate change in-
Hg can be obtained from the equality of Eq. (5a) and Eq. (4d).
creased the frequency and magnitude of extreme rain events. The void
in the gravel layer can supply additional space to store the stormwater. 𝐶𝐼 × 𝑇 ( )
H𝑔 = 1 − 𝑂𝑝 (5b)
This case calculated the necessary Hg for the improvement of the flood 2𝑉𝑟 × 𝛼
return period. The maximum inflow discharge ip is the flood return pe- If Op =0 for no drainage system, Eq. (5b) will equal to Eq. (4f). The
riod after improvement. For the prevention of flooding, the maximum value of rainfall intensity depends on the location of the design area. The
outflow discharge op is the design discharge of the drainage system. Be- dimensionless depth of the gravel layer can be defined as Hgd = Hg /I. A
tween the gravel layer and the drainage system, a weir or orifice is set short duration storm T = 1 hour and C=1 for impervious pavement, Hg
to discharge the flood into the drainage system. Table 5 displays the di- will be
mensionless storage volume of the gravel layer. The storage volume of ( )
1 − Op
the detention pond using orifice as the outflow device is the smallest. H𝑔𝑑 = (5c)
Fig. 13 displays the relationship between Hg and 𝛼 for triangular 720𝑉𝑟 𝛼
outflow. For example, if the flood return period of inflow and outflow Eq. (5c) can be used to estimate the minimum dimensionless depth
is 5 and 2 years, Hg = 18 cm for 𝛼 = 15%. of the gravel layer for triangular inflow/outflow. For example, if

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Y.-M. Hong Environmental Challenges 2 (2021) 100014

Table 5
The estimation of dimensionless storage volume.

Inflow return period (year) Outflow return period (year) Peak inflow (m3 /sec) Peak outflow (m3 /sec) Op (op /ip ) Sp (sp /vf )

5 2 0.186 0.139 0.745 0.255

10 2 0.218 0.139 0.637 0.363
25 2 0.256 0.139 0.541 0.459
10 5 0.218 0.186 0.856 0.144
25 5 0.256 0.186 0.727 0.273
50 5 0.284 0.186 0.657 0.343

Table 6
The surface infiltration rates for various permeable pavements.

Authors Type of Permeable Surface infiltration

Pavement rates (cm/hour)

Bean et al. (2007) CGP 13

PICP 53
PC 16
Collins et al. (2008) PC 4661.5
PICP type 1 1158.25
CGP 92
PICP type 2 317.75
Lucke et al. (2014) PICP 37.3
This study JW pavement 274 (H = 0.25 cm)
776 (H = 0.5 cm)
2195 (H = 1 cm)
4032 (H = 1.5 cm)
6207 (H = 2 cm)

4. Conclusions

The design of the permeable pavement system includes a type of

permeable pavement on top, an underground detention pond, and an
optional discharge channel. This study established the simplified de-
sign method of a permeable pavement system. Defining the triangu-
lar inflow/outflow hydrograph of the underground detention pond,
Fig. 14. The relationship between Hgd and Op for 𝛼=10%, 15%, 20%, 25%, 30% the simplified detention volume equation can be obtained by peak in-
and Vr = 30%. flow/outflow rate and rainfall duration. The gravel was used to be the
material of the underground detention pond based on the high porosity
and low subsidence. Using the Rational formula and the rainfall inten-
Op =0.8, Vr =30%, and 𝛼= 20%, Hgd = 0.00463 from Eq. (5c). If the
sity equation derived by the Horner formula, the minimum depth equa-
I = 78.39 mm/hour for return period = 10 years, Hg =36.3 cm. Fig. 14
tion of the underground detention pond is the function of gravel void
depicts the relationship between Hgd and Op for the Vr = 30%, and 𝛼=
ratio, the permeable pavement ratio of the urban catchment, runoff co-
10%, 15%, 20%, 25%, and 30%. When Op = 0, a maximum Hgd is ob-
efficient, rainfall intensity, and rainfall duration. The void ratio of the
tained. More permeable pavement induced small Hgd .
gravel layer was 31.4% of the median particle diameter = 1 cm.
This study established the simplified design method of PPS for the
3.4. The surface infiltration rates of PPS urban catchment, which adapted the common formula to estimate the
flood volume, and developed the depth calculation equations for surface
Based on the different conditions such as the type of base soil, the water / underground detention pond under two drainage conditions. Ac-
depth of gravel layer, the measurement method, or the antecedent rain- cording to the calculation example in Taipei city, Taiwan, the floodwater
fall, the SIR of different studies for the same kinds of pavement varies depth with 50 years return period is lower than 0.2 cm, which can be
widely. Bean et al.(2007) measured the surface infiltration rates of 40 infiltrated into the underground detention pond by JW pavement. The
permeable pavement sites in North Carolina, Maryland, Virginia, and relationship between the minimum depth of the underground detention
Delaware. Collins et al. (2008) designed a permeable pavement parking pond and the permeable pavement ratio in the urban catchment was es-
lot in eastern North Carolina consisting of four types of permeable pave- tablished for various flood return period. A high area ratio of permeable
ment and standard asphalt and monitored the pavement surface runoff pavement in the urban area will induce a shallow depth of underground
volumes, total outflow volumes, peak flow rates, and time to peak from detention pond. The relationship between underground detention pond
June 2006 to July 2007. Lucke et al. (2014) evaluated the performance and peak outflow rate was also established for various permeable pave-
of falling/constant head full-scale experimental test methods developed ment ratio. Permeable interlocking concrete paver and JW pavement
in the Netherlands to more accurately determine the surface infiltra- were recommended to be the permeable pavement based on the high
tion rate of existing permeable pavement installations. Table 6 displays surface infiltration rate.
the field measurement of SIR for concrete grid pavers (CGP), perme-
able interlocking concrete pavers (PICP), porous concrete (PC), and JW Author declaration
pavement. From table 6, JW and PICP are recommended for PPS based
on the high SIR. However, if the groundwater level is higher than the Funding
base soil, the SIR of JW pavement will be smaller than the data shown
in Table 6 due to the groundwater pressure. No funding was received for this work.

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Y.-M. Hong Environmental Challenges 2 (2021) 100014

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