A simplified model for modular green roof hydrologic analyses and design

Abstract

Green roofs can mitigate urban rooftop stormwater runoff. However, the lack of accurate, physically-based performance assessment and design models has hindered their wide application. Most hydrologic or hydraulic models have no direct connection to the physical properties of green roof components such as media type/depth, drainage depth, etc. In an effort to assist design engineers, a simplified yet effective physically-based model was developed and calibrated with pilot data in order to provide green roof hydrologic performance curves to guide design. Precipitations with depths ranging from 0 to 40 cm and durations 30 to 1440 min were simulated for 21 green roof designs to determine the effects of common physical design parameters. Results revealed that effective capacity and transient capacity are the controlling factors for runoff volume reduction for single precipitation events. Including a water storage feature in the design increased cumulative long-term runoff reduction by an average of 23.5%, whereas increasing growth media depth yielded an average 5.3% improvement. Peak reduction and peak delay are governed by media depth and drainage opening size. Study results indicate that LEED criteria should be modified to require specific designer-controlled parameters of storage and media depth for the design storm to ensure desired performance.