Assessing the hydraulic conductivity of open drainage for surface water in road safety zones

Abstract

The relevance of research on removing surface water from the drained areas has increased along with a rising number of drainage systems. A large part of inlets for surface water are installed in the ditches of road safety zones and / or terrain drops in safety zones where flowing surface water accumulates. The practice of constructing and rebuilding roads in Lithuania shows that each new route of the road section most frequently passes through the drained area and redistributes runoff characteristics of that sector. Each subgrade passing through the watercourse of surface water is a local dam for surface runoff. The surface water that has accumulated in road safety zones have to be drained to avoid damage to road structures and from the flood in the drained roadside areas. The article discusses the efficiency of hydro technical measures such as inlets for surface water in the mining area and highlights the specificities of hydraulic calculations when the complete drainage system for surface water Inlet–Water Drainage Line is integrally assessed. The paper also proposes a methodology for the hydraulic calculations of the system Inlet–Water Drainage Line. The article examines the condition of water inlets having the F-5 or PN-42 structure. The findings of the research carried out in 2017 demonstrate that only 15.3% of inlets for surface water were completely clean, 45.2% of the inlets were found fully contaminated and 39.5% of those were partially silted up. Thus, a clear upward trend towards polluting the crosssectional areas of inlets for surface water with soil and grass root plants and a strong downward trend towards clean cross-sectional areas of inlets for surface water are observed. 22.6% of inlets for surface water were found damaged by farmers using tillage machinery.