Compaction’s Impacts on Urban Storm-Water Infiltration
Publication: Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering
Volume 134, Issue 5
Abstract
Soil infiltration is a critical component of most urban runoff models. However, it has been well documented that, during urbanization, soils are greatly modified, especially in relation to soil density. Increased soil compaction results in soils that do not behave in a manner predicted by traditional infiltration models. Laboratory and field tests were conducted to investigate detailed infiltration behavior of disturbed urban soils for a variety of soil textures and levels of compaction. The results from traditional permeability tests on several soil groups showed that, as expected, the degree of compaction greatly affected the steady-state infiltration rate. The field tests highlighted the importance of compaction on the infiltration rate of sandy soils, with minimal effect seen from antecedent moisture conditions. For the clayey soils, however, both the compaction level and antecedent moisture conditions were important in determining the steady-state infiltration rate.
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Acknowledgments
Much of the infiltration measurements were carried out as class projects at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, including hydrology, experimental design, and soil mechanics classes. Specific thanks are given to the following students who especially assisted the project: Rebecca Martin, Stacey Sprayberry, Muhammad Salman, Wade Burcham, Brian Adkins, Sarah Braswell, Scott Lee, and Jennifer Harper. Partial support was provided by the Urban Watershed Management Branch, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Edison, N.J., for portions of the field measurements, including the amended soil tests. Thomas O’Connor was the EPA project officer and provided valuable project guidance.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering
Volume 134 • Issue 5 • October 2008
Pages: 652 - 658
Copyright
© 2008 ASCE.
History
Received: Jun 30, 2007
Accepted: Jan 28, 2008
Published online: Oct 1, 2008
Published in print: Oct 2008
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