scholarly journals A Comparison between Conceptual and Physically Based Models in Predicting the Hydrological Behavior of Green Roofs

Proceedings ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 8
Author(s):  
Mirka Mobilia ◽  
Antonia Longobardi

The evolving climate conditions contribute to increase flooding risk in urban areas. Green roofs are effective tools for controlling and managing stormwater runoff. With the aim to prevent these damaging events, an accurate modelling of the response of green roofs to storm events becomes essential. The goal of this research is to compare the accuracy of two hydrological models in predicting the behavior of two green roof test beds in terms of runoff production. The test beds are located in the campus of University of Salerno, in a typical Mediterranean climate and they differ in the composition of the drainage layer. The selected models are the Storm Water management model (SWMM) model and the Nash model. They have been calibrated against hourly data of 25 rainfall-runoff events observed at the experimental site and compared using a number of goodness of fit indexes. The Nash cascade model aims to be a very simple but effective approach. No substantial differences were observed in the behavior of the two green roof plots, though they differ in their design characteristics. Finally, the existence of a relationship between the errors and the rainfall characteristics has been found.

2019 ◽  
Vol 86 ◽  
pp. 00026 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Baryła ◽  
Agnieszka Karczmarczyk ◽  
Agnieszka Bus ◽  
Edyta Hewelke

Increasing recognition is being given to the adaption of green roofs in urban areas to enhance the local ecosystem. Green roofs may bring several benefits to urban areas including flood mitigation Analysis of environmental factors affecting the outflow of green roofs is the subject of many studies. The work assessed how environmental factors moisture of structural layers and antecedent dry weather period influence the retention on two types of green roof substrates. The monitoring of environmental factors and amount of runoff was carried out on two models of green roofs covered by extensive vegetation (mosssedum-herbs) with substrates of an organic-mineral and mineral composition for 8 months. A statistical regression approach identified potential antecedent meteorological factors and moisture indicators of extensive green-roof retention. Continuous field monitoring data revealed the combined effects of rainfall depth and antecedent dry weather period to explain the measured stormwater retention under a moderate climate conditions regime. It is important to incorporate site-specific planning and assessment prior to green infrastructure design.


Author(s):  
A. Raimondi ◽  
G. Becciu

AbstractGreen roofs can be an effective tool for sustainable urban drainage, since they reduce and retain runoff by delaying its peak. Most studies analysing the retention capacity of green roofs are usually referred to a specific place and roof condition and do not consider the possibility that the roof could be partially pre-filled from previous rainfalls at the beginning of the given event. The aim of this paper is to develop an analytical probabilistic approach to evaluate green roof performance for stormwater control in terms of runoff that could be applied for different sites and climate conditions. To this end, the possibility that the green roof retention capacity could not be completely available owing to pre-filling from previous rainfall events has been considered and equations for an optimum green roof design, relating the runoff average return interval to the water retention capacity, have been proposed. The influence of parameters affecting the runoff process has been examined in depth and a case study to test the goodness of fit of the resulting equations has been developed.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vladimír Hamouz ◽  
Vincent Pons ◽  
Edvard Sivertsen ◽  
Gema Sakti Raspati ◽  
Jean-Luc Bertrand-Krajewski ◽  
...  

Abstract Rooftops cover a large percentage of land area in urban areas, which can potentially be used for stormwater purposes. Seeking adaptation strategies, there is an increasing interest in utilising green roofs for stormwater management. However, the impact of extreme rainfall on the hydrological performance of green roofs and their design implications remain challenging to quantify. In this study, a method was developed to assess the detention performance of a detention-based green roof (underlaid with 100 mm of expanded clay) for current and future climate conditions under extreme precipitation using an artificial rainfall generator. The green roof runoff was found to be more sensitive to the initial water content than the hyetograph shape. The green roof outperformed the black roof in terms of all performance indicators (time of concentration, centroid delay, T50 or peak attenuation). While the time of concentration for the reference black roof was within 5 minutes independently of rainfall intensity, for the green roof was extrapolated between 30 and 90 minutes with intensity from 0.8 to 2.5 mm/min. Adding a layer of expanded clay under the green roof substrate provided a significant improvement to the detention performance under extreme precipitation in current and future climate conditions.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 1972
Author(s):  
Jeremy Wright ◽  
Jeremy Lytle ◽  
Devon Santillo ◽  
Luzalen Marcos ◽  
Kristiina Valter Mai

Urban densification and climate change are creating a multitude of issues for cities around the globe. Contributing factors include increased impervious surfaces that result in poor stormwater management, rising urban temperatures, poor air quality, and a lack of available green space. In the context of volatile weather, there are growing concerns regarding the effects of increased intense rainfalls and how they affect highly populated areas. Green roofs are becoming a stormwater management tool, occupying a growing area of urban roof space in many developed cities. In addition to the water-centric approach to the implementation of green roofs, these systems offer a multitude of benefits across the urban water–energy–food nexus. This paper provides insight to green roof systems available that can be utilized as tools to mitigate the effects of climate change in urbanized areas. A new array of green roof testing modules is presented along with research methods employed to address current issues related to food, energy and water performance optimization. Rainwater runoff after three rain events was observed to be reduced commensurate with the presence of a blue roof retention membrane in the testbed, the growing media depth and type, as well as the productive nature of the plants in the testbed. Preliminary observations indicate that more productive green roof systems may have increasingly positive benefits across the water–energy–food nexus in dense urban areas that are vulnerable to climate disruption.


2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Carbone ◽  
Michele Turco ◽  
Giuseppe Brunetti ◽  
Patrizia Piro

Design storms are very useful in many hydrological and hydraulic practices and are obtained from statistical analysis of precipitation records. However considering design storms, which are often quite unlike the natural rainstorms, may result in designing oversized or undersized drainage facilities. For these reasons, in this study, a two-parameter double exponential function is proposed to parameterize historical storm events. The proposed function has been assessed against the storms selected from 5-year rainfall time series with a 1-minute resolution, measured by three meteorological stations located in Calabria, Italy. In particular, a nonlinear least square optimization has been used to identify parameters. In previous studies, several evaluation methods to measure the goodness of fit have been used with excellent performances. One parameter is related to the centroid of the rain distribution; the second one is related to high values of the standard deviation of the kurtosis for the selected events. Finally, considering the similarity between the proposed function and the Gumbel function, the two parameters have been computed with the method of moments; in this case, the correlation values were lower than those computed with nonlinear least squares optimization but sufficiently accurate for designing purposes.


Water ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 1253 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dirk Cirkel ◽  
Bernard Voortman ◽  
Thijs van Veen ◽  
Ruud Bartholomeus

Worldwide cities are facing increasing temperatures due to climate change and increasing urban density. Green roofs are promoted as a climate adaptation measure to lower air temperatures and improve comfort in urban areas, especially during intensive dry and warm spells. However, there is much debate on the effectiveness of this measure, because of a lack of fundamental knowledge about evaporation from different green roof systems. In this study, we investigate the water and energy balance of different roof types on a rooftop in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Based on lysimeter measurements and modeling, we compared the water and energy balance of a conventional green roof with blue-green roofs equipped with a novel storage and capillary irrigation system. The roofs were covered either with Sedum or by grasses and herbs. Our measurements and modeling showed that conventional green roof systems (i.e., a Sedum cover and a few centimeters of substrate) have a low evaporation rate and due to a rapid decline in available moisture, a minor cooling effect. Roofs equipped with a storage and capillary irrigation system showed a remarkably large evaporation rate for Sedum species behaving as C3 plants during hot, dry periods. Covered with grasses and herbs, the evaporation rate was even larger. Precipitation storage and capillary irrigation strongly reduced the number of days with dry-out events. Implementing these systems therefore could lead to better cooling efficiencies in cities.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 4209 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ibrahim Salman ◽  
Leon Blaustein

Worldwide, urban areas are expanding both in size and number, which results in a decline in habitats suitable for urban flora and fauna. The construction of urban green features, such as green roofs, may provide suitable habitat patches for many species in urban areas. On green roofs, two approaches have been used to select plants—i.e., matching similar habitat to green roofs (habitat template approach) or identifying plants with suitable traits (plant trait approach). While both approaches may result in suitable habitats for arthropods, how arthropods respond to different combinations of plants is an open question. The aim of this study was to investigate how the structural complexity of different plant forms can affect the abundance and richness of arthropods on green roofs. The experimental design crossed the presence and absence of annuals with three Sedum sediforme (Jacq.) Pau (common name: stonecrops) treatments—i.e., uniformly disrupted Sedum, clumped disrupted Sedum, and no Sedum. We hypothesized that an increased structural diversity due to the coexistence of different life forms of plants on roofs is positively related to the abundance and richness of arthropods. We found that arthropod abundance and richness were positively associated with the percent of vegetation cover and negatively associated with substrate temperature. Neither arthropod abundance nor richness was influenced by the relative moisture of substrate. We also found that arthropod abundance and richness varied by green roof setups (treatments) and by seasonality. Arthropod abundance on green roofs was the highest in treatments with annuals only, while species richness was slightly similar between treatments containing annuals but varied between sampling periods. This study suggests that adding annuals to traditional Sedum roofs has positive effects on arthropods. This finding can support the development of biodiverse cities because most extensive green roofs are inaccessible to the public and can provide undisturbed habitat for several plant and arthropod species.


Author(s):  
Ar. Ankur Bhardwaj ◽  
Dr. Shweta Chaudhary ◽  
Ar.Kirti Varandani

The ecological, social and visual commitments that green roofs can make towards sustainable living in more intensified urban centres are generally recognized around the world. Green roof is one such sustainable methodology, utilization of which causes us in insulating the buildings and, subsequently contributing to better energy proficient execution of the same. Green roofs additionally give environment to various species, lessen the rainwater runoff and better deal with the carbon-dioxide cycle. In spite of these advantages, Green roofs are not as basic an element in India as they are in other European and American urban areas. In this paper an attempt has been made to enhance the advantages of this innovation in India. Green roofs systems looks simple in terms of setting up, but actually very complex in maintaining and achieving sustainability. In depth study of green roofs, historic background, climatic zones, impacts of green roofs on heating and cooling, benefits, problems and opportunities is done with the help of data taken from secondary sources like books, magazines and published literature (articles, journals, conference proceedings) form various e-libraries and other online platforms. KEY WORDS: Heating, Cooling, Green Roof, Sustainability)


2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 632-640
Author(s):  
Anna Baryła ◽  
Agnieszka Bus ◽  
Agnieszka Karczmarczyk ◽  
Joanna Witkowska-Dobrev

Increasing urban populations raises a number of problems and risks that are strengthened by observed and projected climate change. An increase in green areas (so-called green infrastructure) has turned out to be an effective means of lowering temperature in the city. Green roofs can be one of the possible measures leading to achieving this aim. The aim of the study was the analysis of temperature changes of different roof surfaces (conventional roof, board, intensive roof substrate without plant cover, substrate covered with plants (shrubs). Studies on comparing the temperature between a conventional roof and green roofs were carried out in the period from April to September 2015 on the roof of the building of the Faculty of Modern Languages, University of Warsaw. The measurement was performed using the FLIR SC620 thermal imaging system. As a result of the tests, it was found that in the summer months the differences between the temperature of the green roof and the conventional roof amounted to a maximum of 31.3°C. The obtained results showed that the roof with vegetation can signifi cantly contribute to the mitigation of the urban heat island phenomenon in urban areas during summer periods.


2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 641-652 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ewa Burszta-Adamiak ◽  
Wiesław Fiałkiewicz

Nowadays green roofs play a key role in alleviating the negative effects of urbanization. Despite investors awareness of the advantages of green roofs, there are still some barriers that hinder investments on a large scale. As a result a financial and non-financial incentives are implemented. The review presented in this paper allowed to identify the most popular initiatives and to formulate recommendations for creating incentive supporting implementation of green roofs in urban areas.


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