Long Term Efficiency Analysis of Infiltration Trenches Subjected to Clogging

In recent years, limitations linked to traditional urban drainageschemes have been pointed out and new approaches were developed introducingmore natural methods for retaining and/or disposing of stormwater. Suchpractices include infiltration and storage tanks in order to reduce the peak flowand retain part of the polluting components. The impact of such practices onstormwater quantity and quality is not easily assessable because of the complexity of physical and chemical processes involved. In such cases, integratedurban drainage models may play a relevant role providing tools for long termanalysis. In this study, the effect of the clogging phenomenon has been assessedby means of a simplified conceptual modelling approach developed in previousstudies has been employed and different soils as well as different design criteriahave been considered. On the basis of a long-term simulation of 6 years raindata, the performance as well as the effectiveness of an infiltration trenchmeasure are assessed. The study confirmed the important role played by theclogging phenomenon on such infiltration structures.