Drainage and Erosion Control - a PDH Online Course for Engineers, Surveyors and Architects

Drainage and Erosion Control

Course Outline

This course will discuss surface runoff and how its effects on erosion can be reduced. Design characteristics such as inlet and outlet control, storm intensity, surface cover and trench depths will be discussed.

This 12 hour course materials “Drainage and Erosion Control,” promotes safe and efficient designs for storm drainage facilities and erosion control measures. This course will provide the reader with the knowledge that will aid in designing drainage pipes and erosion control devices as safely and economical as possible. The course materials are based solely on the Army Corp of Engineers document “Drainage and Erosion Control.”

This course includes a multiple-choice quiz at the end, which is designed to enhance the understanding of course materials.

Learning Objective

At the conclusion of this course, the student would have learned the following:

The major cause of ground erosion;
The coefficient of permeability for various soils;
How Darcy’s law is used;
How to determine the effective porosity;
The typical dimensions of sub-base drains;
How to determine the flow rate through soils;
How to determine the effective porosity of soils;
The coefficient of roughness for various pipes;
How storm intensity is used to size surface drainage systems;
How compaction increases infiltration rates;
The infiltration rates for turfed areas;
How to use the rational method;
The coefficient of roughness for dense grass cover;
The roughness coefficient for unpaved corrugated pipe;
Minimum cover for RCP pipe;
How to keep the hydraulic below the crown of the pipe;
The depth of frost penetration for soils in various states;
Cases where catch basins are and are not necessary;
Safety factor used in field gratings to compensate for collection of debris;
How to determine the head for grates acting as weirs;
How to determine the head for grates acting as weirs;
How to determine the velocity of flow using the manning equation;
How to determine if a culvert if flowing under inlet or outlet control;
How to determine the head of a culvert under inlet control;
How to determine n values for corrugated metal pipes;
When gully scour is likely to occur;
How to use U.S. planting zones;
How to determine weir discharges;
When to use stilling basins at outlets of culverts;
How determine the discharge of oval smooth pipes;
The loading rates for some commercial grates at airports;
The maximum suggested velocity in turf-lined channels;
Slopes where mowers cannot be used;
How to use depth of flow to determine the froude number;
The suggested coefficient of friction for pipe with several different interior finishes;
How to determine the entrance loss coefficient for a culvert under outlet control;
How to determine the critical depth of rectangular concrete sections;
How to utilize riprap to control erosion;
How to determine the discharge given the gutter slope;
How to determine the culvert capacity for smooth pipes with groove-edged entrances;
The anticipated loads for several different vehicles;
How rain plays a part in erosion;
The typical trench sizes for various pipes; and
The relationship between the air freezing index and frost penetration.

Intended Audience and Benefit

This course is intended for those wanting a deeper understanding of drainage and erosion.
This course is designed so that the intended audience will benefit immediately with the information to make intelligent decisions related to Drainage and Erosion Control.

Course Introduction

The largest contributor to drainage and surface runoff is the hydrologic cycle. During the hydrologic cycle precipitation falls to the ground as either rain or snow. Other causes of surface runoff are manmade. There are several methods available to calculate the flow rate of stormwater; among those are the SCS and rational methods. Several variables are included in the rational method; among those are surface type, location of the site, and intensity of rainfall.

This course will discuss Stormwater pipe design and the erosion control devices used along with them. Design characteristics such as inlet and outlet control, storm intensity, surface cover and trench depths will be discussed.

Course Content

The purpose of this course will be to provide information on applying the data found in the course materials. You will be directed to the Army Corp of Engineers website for the study materials.

Drainage and Erosion Control

Please click on the above underlined hypertext to view, download or print the document for your study. Because of the large file size, we recommend that you first save the file to your computer by right clicking the mouse and choosing "Save Target As ...", and then open the file in Adobe Acrobat Reader. If you still experience any difficulty in downloading or opening this file, you may need to close some applications or reboot your computer to free up some memory.

Course Summary

The design of stormwater facilities are used to provide drainage for precipitation and manmade sources. These Stormwater facilities are often treated with erosion control measures such as stilling basins, rip rap and energy dissipaters.

Good Engineering judgment is always paramount in any transportation design. Utilizing good engineering judgment and the standards set forth in the text, the designer will be prepared to design efficient drainage and erosion control facilities.

Related Links

For additional technical information related to this subject, please visit the following websites:

www.usace.army.mil
www.aashto.com
www.epa.gov

Quiz

Once you finish studying the above course content, you need to take a quiz to obtain the PDH credits.

DISCLAIMER: The materials contained in the online course are not intended as a representation or warranty on the part of PDH Center or any other person/organization named herein. The materials are for general information only. They are not a substitute for competent professional advice. Application of this information to a specific project should be reviewed by a registered architect and/or professional engineer/surveyor. Anyone making use of the information set forth herein does so at their own risk and assumes any and all resulting liability arising therefrom.