Drywells Dimensioning: Analogy Between Water Flow in Soil and Heat Flux in Media Solids

Abstract

The drywell is an on-lot drainage system, which is composed by an excavation in the soil lined with a perforated piped and gravel at the bottom and sides. There are many models for on lot systems dimensioning, which were initially developed for agriculture areas or for simulation of water percolation in porous media, thus, they are not fully optimized for small areas like urban lots. This article proposes a model for dimensioning drywells, which is based on physical and hydrological characteristics of the installation site. It was developed using the analogy between water flow in soil and the heat flux in media solids. Results obtained with the proposed model were statistically similar (p>0.05) to those obtained with experimental data.