Inverted siphons (also called depressed sewers) allow stormwater or wastewater sewers to pass under obstructions such as rivers.

Our calculation allows up to five parallel siphons to go under the river. Unlike the main sewer pipe, the siphon pipes flow under pressure and must have flow velocities greater than 3 ft/s ( .! m/s) to keep material suspended" therefore, several siphons having smaller diameters than the main sewer ma# be re$uired. Our calculation computes the siphon diameters, velocities, and inlet chamber wall heights and siphon invert elevations. Overall %iagram&

'lan view of inlet chamber (3 siphons)&

(ection )*) (e+ploded scale)&

,or ease of fabrication, all siphon inverts can be located at the elevation of the lowest siphon invert. Units& cm-centimeter, cfs-cubic feet per second, ft-feet, gpm-U( gallons per minute, gph-U( gallons per hour, gpd-U( gallons per da#, m-meters, ./%-.illions of U( gallons per da#, s-second Introduction (tormwater and wastewater sewers often encounter obstructions such as rivers, other pipes, subwa#s, tunnels, or valle#s. 0o pass these obstructions, a common method is for the sewer pipe to drop sharpl#, then run hori1ontal under the obstruction, and finall# rise to the desired elevation. 0he piping going under the obstruction is traditionall# called an 2inverted siphon2, but since the pipe is not actuall# acting as a siphon, a better term is 2depressed sewer2 (.etcalf and 3dd#, 4!54). Unlike the main sewer pipe, the siphon pipe(s) flow under pressure. (pecial care must be taken in inverted siphon design since losses are greater for pressuri1ed flow, and the velocit# in each siphon pipe must be at least 3 ft/s ( .! m/s) for sewage or 6 ft/s (4.7 m/s) for storm water (.etcalf and 3dd#, 4!54). 0herefore, even if there is onl# one main sewer pipe, several siphons ma# be re$uired. If minor losses due to bends or elbows in the siphon are significant compared to the siphon length, include the e$uivalent length of the elbows. Increase the siphon length (8 s) so that 8s is the ph#sical length of a siphon plus the e$uivalent length of minor losses due to elbows in siphon. Equations and Methodology 3$uations are primaril# from .etcalf and 3dd# (4!54) but are supplemented b# e$uations in 9how (4!:!) and ;iessman and <ammer (4!!5). =ote that .anning>s e$uation is empirical, and its form in the following e$uations re$uires use of meters and seconds for the units. 9ompute the ma+imum flow in the main sewer pipe using .anning>s e$uation for full pipe flow&

9ompute the diameter of each siphon, %i, or the flow through each siphon, ?i, using .anning>s e$uation for full pipe flow through each siphon&

9ompute the wall heights, #@ (relative to main invert), in the inlet bo+. 0he walls separate the siphons from each other. 0he wall heights are the same height as the water depths, #@, in the main pipe corresponding to the discharge through the

siphons. <ere, ?@-4 is the discharge through siphon 4, ?@-7 is the discharge through siphons 4 and 7, and so on. .anning>s e$uation for a partiall# full main pipe is used, but is solved backwards (numericall#) in order to compute # @. Ae allow up to five siphons (four walls).

9ompute the siphon invert elevations in the inlet chamber. )ccording to .etcalf and 3dd# (4!54), there is no loss in the inlet bo+ for flow going from the main culvert to the first siphon since the flow travels in a straight path. <owever, for siphons 7 through n the flow must turn ! o to go over the chamber wall (a head loss of 4.: velocit# heads) and has an additional head loss of one velocit# head as the flow enters siphon i. 0herefore, for i-7 to n siphons and @-7 to n*4 walls&

where 3i is relative to the invert of the main pipe. =ote that for the first siphon, <i- , and for the last siphon #@ is replaced b# %m. Often, all siphon inverts are located at the same elevation (the elevation of the lowest siphon) for ease of construction. Variables Aj-,low area in the main pipe for computing height of wall @ Bm 7C. Di-%iameter of siphon i BmC. Dm-%iameter of main pipe BmC. E-.ain invert>s elevation drop from inlet chamber to outlet chamber BmC. Used to compute h#draulic grade line, (s, for siphon pipes. Ei-(iphon i inlet invert elevation relative to invert of main culvert BmC. 0hese are ma+imum elevations. )n# siphon can be placed lower than 3i. ,or ease of fabrication, all siphon inverts are often placed at the elevation of the lowest siphon invert. Hi-<ead loss for flow from main pipe to siphon i BmC. Ls-0otal length of one siphon BmC. )ssumes all siphons are appro+imatel# the same length. Lw-Aall length inside inlet chamber BmC. )lso known as weir length. nm-.anning>s n coefficient of main pipe. ns-.anning>s n coefficient for the siphon pipes. Pj-Aetted perimeter of main pipe for computing height of wall @ BmC. Qi-,lowrate (discharge) through siphon i Bm3/sC. Qm-,lowrate (discharge) through main pipe when flowing full Bm 3/sC. Qj-,lowrate (discharge) through main pipe where @ represents the sum of siphons 4 through @ Bm3/sC. ,or instance, if @-3, then ?j-?1D?2D?3. Used to compute height of wall @.

Rj-<#draulic radius of main pipe for computing height of wall @ BmC. Sm-(lope of main pipe Bm/mC. ;ertical/<ori1ontal. Ss-)llowable h#draulic grade line for siphon pipes Bm/mC Tj-0op width of main pipe for computing height of wall @ BmC. Vi-;elocit# of water flowing through siphon i Bm/sC. Vm-;elocit# of water flowing through main pipe when flowing full Bm/sC. Vj-;elocit# of water flowing through main pipe for computing wall heights @ Bm/sC. #j-Aater depth in main pipe for computing wall heights @ BmC. #@ is measured relative to the main invert. 0herefore, if the bottom of the inlet chamber is below the main invert, the wall will actuall# be #@ plus the elevation difference between the main invert and the bottom of the chamber. In the figure titled 2(ection )*)2 at the top of this page, the ph#sical wall heights are #4D34 and #7D34, since siphon 4 has the lowest invert of the three siphons shown in the figure.

Manning n Coefficients .anning n values are from .etcalf and 3dd# (4!54), )I(I (4!5 ), and footnoted items in references for pipes in good condition. Pipe Material Uncoated cast iron 9ommercial wrought iron * black Manning n Pipe Material Manning n . 43 9oated cast iron . 47 9ommercial wrought iron * . 43 . 46 galvani1ed (mooth lockbar and welded (mooth brass and glass . 4 . 44 2O%2 Eiveted and spiral steel pipe . 4: 9orrugated .etal . 77F 9ommon cla# drainage tile . 47 ;itrified sewer pipe . 43 Grick in cement mortar, brick . 43 /la1ed brickwork . 47 sewers 9ement mortar surfaces . 47 =eat cement surfaces . 44 Aood stave pipe . 44 9oncrete pipe . 43 a,b 9orrugated 'ol#eth#lene ('3) with smooth inner walls . !* . 4: c 9orrugated 'ol#eth#lene ('3) with corrugated inner walls . 45* . 7: 'ol#vin#l 9hloride (';9) with smooth inner walls d,e . !* . 44 F 9orrugated metal pipe n value can var# significantl# with pipe diameter and t#pe of corrugations (values can range from . 47 to . 33) * )I(I (4!5 ). Glossary Inlet chamber * usuall# concrete manhole where main culvert branches into several siphon pipes. Invert * inside bottom of pipe. .ain * culvert through which flow occurs before and after the siphon.

(iphon * pipe or pipes flowing full and under pressure which go underneath the obstruction. =ot siphons b# the true definition. 0rue siphons flow uphill then back down. (iphons used here go down then back up. Error Messages and Validity Initial input checks. 0he following messages are generated from improper input values& "Need 1e-9<Dm<1e9 m". .ain culvert diameter must be between these limits. "Need 1e-9<E<1e9 m". 3levation drop from the inlet chamber to the outlet chamber must be between these limits. "Need 1e-9<Ls<1e9 m". 0he length of each siphon pipe must be between these limits. "Need 1e-9<Lw<1e9 m". 0he lengths of the inlet chamber walls must be between these limits. "Need 1e-9<Main S<1e9". 0he slope of the main culvert must be between these limits. "Need 1e-9<Main n<1e9" "Need 1e-9<Si!"#n n<1e9". 0he .annings n values for the main culvert and siphons must be between these limits. "Need 1e-9<D1<1e9 m" "Need 1e-9<D2<1e9 m" "Need 1e-9<D3<1e9 m" "Need 1e9<D$<1e9 m" "Need 1e-9<D%<1e9 m". If siphon diameters are input, the# must be between these limits. "Need 1e-9<Q1<1e9 m3&s" "Need 1e-9<Q2<1e9 m3&s" "Need 1e-9<Q3<1e9 m3&s" "Need 1e-9<Q$<1e9 m3&s". If siphon flows are input, the flows must be between these limits. Run-time errors. 0he following messages ma# be generated after performing some calculations& "Need 1e-9<Qm<1e9 m3&s". %ischarge computed in main culvert must be in this range for calculations to continue. "Need si!"#n Q'(". If diameters are being computed, the flowrate through the last siphon is automaticall# computed such that the sum of the flow through all siphons is e$ual to the discharge through the main culvert. If the siphon flows input b# the user e+ceed the discharge in the main culvert, then the flow in the last siphon will be negative, which will generate the error message. Hou should reduce the flows in the siphons so that there is positive flow in the last siphon. Or, #ou could reduce the number of culverts. "Si!"#ns )nde*-desi+ned". (hown onl# if siphon flows are being computed and ?s/?mI .!:. Hou need to increase the siphon diameters. 0his message will not be generated if diameters are being computed * because diameters are computed so that the total flow through the siphons is e+actl# e$ual to the discharge through the main culvert. "Si!"#ns #,e*-desi+ned". (hown onl# if siphon flows are being computed and ?s/?mJ4. :. (ince wall heights cannot be computed for flows grossl# e+ceeding

that of the main culvert, the calculation stops. Hou need to decrease the siphon diameters. 0his message will not be generated if diameters are being computed * because diameters are computed so that the total flow through the siphons is e+actl# e$ual to the discharge through the main culvert.