Optimal Designs of Urban Watershed Boundary and Sewer Networks to Reduce Peak Outflows

Although many researches have been carried out concerning the watershed division in natural areas, it has not been researched for the urban watershed division. If the boundary between two urban areas is indistinct because no natural distinction or no administrative division is between the areas, the boundary between the urban areas that have the different outlets (multi-outlet urban watershed) is determined by only designer of sewer system. The suggested urban watershed division model (UWDM) determines the watershed boundary to reduce simultaneously the peak outflows at the outlets of each watershed. Then, the UWDM determines the sewer network to reduce the peak outflow at outlet by determining the pipe connecting directions between the manholes that have the multi-possible pipe connecting directions. In the UWDM, because the modification of the sewer network changes the superposition effect of the runoff hydrographs in sewer pipes, the optimal sewer layout can reduce the peak outflow at outlet, as much as the superposition effects of the hydrographs are reduced. Therefore, the UWDM can optimize the watershed distinction in multi-outlet urban watershed by determining the connecting directions of the boundary-manholes using the genetic algorithm. The suggested model was applied to a multi-outlet urban watershed of 50.3ha, Seoul, Korea, and the watershed division of this model, the peak outflows at two outlets were decreased by approximately 15% for the design rainfall.