Print this page Drainage Engineering and the Rational Method
George E. Thomas, PE
Course Outline
This course will provide the basic skills and knowledge of drainage engineering, and help develop sound engineering judgment needed to solve drainage problems. The course will describe hydrology; calculate drainage areas, runoff, and runoff for successive areas; deign open and closed channels; and control erosion; Describes the methods used to design drainage structures and will describe the proper procedures used to determine runoff using the Rational Method of runoff determination.
This course includes
a multiple choice quiz at the end,
Learning Objective
At the conclusion of this course, the student will:
- Have an understanding of hydrology;
- Have an understanding of precipitation;
- Have an understanding of interception;
- Have knowledge of infiltration;
- Have knowledge of ditches and there function;
- Know how to interpret an hydrograph;
- Know how to determine rainfall intensity;
- Know how to read a isohyetal map;
- Know how to convert depth of rainfall intensity;
- Know how to use rainfall intensity and duration curves;
- Know how to delineate a drainage area;
- Know how to estimate acreage of a drainage area;
- Know how to use the stripper method to approximate a watershed area;
- Know how to use the rational method to estimate peak runoff of a drainage area;
- Know how to calculate runoff of successive areas;
- Know how to determine flow types;
- Know how to design a open channel; and
- Know how to design a closed culvert.
Intended Audience
Civil Engineers, Structural Engineers, and Architects
Benefit to Attendees
Drainage engineering is important to all areas of design and construction. The entire serviceability of roads, buildings, and other structures depend on the adequacy of the drainage system. The objective of the course is to provide information on drainage systems is to minimize the effects of adverse weather conditions over the life of a project:
- Removing all surface water from project areas.
- Intercepting and disposing of runoff from adjoining areas.
- Intercepting and removing detrimental ground water.
Course
Introduction
The course covers hydrology; calculate drainage areas, runoff, and runoff for successive areas; design open and closed channels; and control erosion; Describes the methods used to design drainage structures and will describe the proper procedures used to determine runoff using the Rational Method of runoff determination. Also this course covers the aspects of designing a culvert (closed channel) for a given situation. Design is based on environmental considerations such as slope, flow, and length of culvert needed, in addition to economic considerations. Often a drainage system will consist of a series of drainage areas, called successive areas, with upstream areas discharging runoff into lower areas. Due to this action, the runoff accumulates and increases as it passes through the system.
Course Content
In this lesson, you are required to download and study the following course content in PDF format:
Drainage Engineering and the Rational Method
Please click on the above underlined hypertext to view, download or print the document for your study. Because of the large file size, we recommend that you first save the file to your computer by right clicking the mouse and choosing "Save Target As ...", and then open the file in Adobe Acrobat Reader. If you still experience any difficulty in downloading or opening this file, you may need to close some applications or reboot your computer to free up some memory.
Quiz
Once you finish studying the above course content, you need to take a quiz to obtain the PDH credits.
DISCLAIMER: The materials contained in the online course are not intended as a representation or warranty on the part of PDH Center or any other person/organization named herein. The materials are for general information only. They are not a substitute for competent professional advice. Application of this information to a specific project should be reviewed by a registered architect and/or professional engineer/surveyor. Anyone making use of the information set forth herein does so at their own risk and assumes any and all resulting liability arising therefrom.
