The hydraulic design and performance of soakaways

Soakaways are infiltration drainage devices which dispose of urban stormwater by recharge into the ground. Soakaways store water during a storm event and then allow it to infiltrate into the soil over a period of time. For a soakaway to be effective, it must be of sufficient size to both store and allow infiltration of stormwater runoff. The size required depends on the hydraulic properties of the soil and the chosen design rainfall events. The project provides an increased understanding of soakaway hydraulics and the analytical model developed can be used to evaluate field tests and soakaways under realistic working conditions.