Selecting a series of storm events for a model-based assessment of combined sewer overflows

Abstract

The hydraulic verification of combined sewer systems as well as the assessment of combined sewer overflows (CSOs) can be conducted using a hydrodynamic model. Unfortunately, long-term simulations with hydrodynamic models for the assessment of CSOs can cause unacceptably long computation times. Using only a series of storm events instead of a precipitation continuum can reduce this time and enables parallel simulation of single storm events. We introduce a method to select this series of storm events. The method’s parameters have been optimized to replicate the overflow volume of the continuous simulation and to minimize the overall computation time. This optimization revealed a generally applicable parameter set that results in series of storm events that are shorter than the precipitation continuum by 86.2–95.2% for the investigated cases. Additionally, the deviation of overflow volume between continuous simulation and series simulation ranges between only 0.1% and 4.1%.