Fine sediment retention in storage chambers: an assessment of time-dependent effects

The optimisation of the design of a storage chamber is generally based upon some measure of the chamber's sedimentation efficiency. In the UK, chambers that minimise the deposition of fine sediments are preferred. Previous laboratory and CFD-based studies to measure efficiency have focused on steady flow conditions. However, both the flow hydraulics within a storage chamber and the pollutant loading in the incoming sewage vary markedly during storm events. This paper outlines a CFD-based approach for determining "overall" chamber efficiency. The approach employs an unsteady volume-of-fluid multiphase model and stochastic particle tracking. Preliminary results from a simplified two-dimensional model are presented.