Abstract
The Tunnel and Reservoir Plan (TARP) was adopted by the Metropolitan Sanitary District of Greater Chicago in 1972 to address combined sewer overflow (CSO) pollution and flooding problems in 970 km2 of the Chicago metropolitan area served by combined sewers. TARP consists of about 175 km of tunnels, three reservoirs, 256 drop shafts, and over 600 connecting structures, pumping stations, and other appurtenances for the capture and storage of CSOs and for conveying the stored CSOs to water reclamation plants for treatment. The TARP system is comprised of three independent systems: the Calumet system serving the south suburbs and a portion of the south side of Chicago, the Upper Des Plaines system serving the northwest suburbs, and the Mainstream/ Des Plaines system serving the remainder of Chicago and the north, west and southwest suburbs.
The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (MWRDGC) desires to develop new, updated and enhanced computer models to allow for simulation of the TARP systems. The new models will be used to optimize operation of the system as actually constructed, to determine constraints in the system, identify physical changes that may be needed to improve performance, and allow what-if analyses to be performed for potential storm scenarios and facility revisions. The modeling includes development of a Physical Inventory system, Hydraulic Modeling of the TARP systems, and Hydrologic Modeling of the TARP service areas. The Physical Inventory provides a digital description of the physical geometry of the TARP system and the related hydraulic performance of system components. Hydrologic Modeling uses data for each dropshafts service area to determine hydrographs describing the inflows to the TARP systems. A ma jor component of the Hydrologic Modeling is to develop tools and methods that allow robust simulation of the extreme heterogeneity of highly urbanized systems and that provide guidance for data compilation needed to improve the accuracy of such simulations. Hydraulic Modeling uses the information from the Physical Inventory and the Hydrologic Modeling to simulate hydraulic response of the TARP system to different inputs. The Hydraulic Modeling tools developed are capable of simulating the range of possible flows in the system, from gravity flows over a dry bed to mixed gravity/surcharged flows to shocks and hydraulic transients.
Comments
Abstracts of presentations given in Session 9 of the 2009 UCOWR conference