4.8.5 Drop Structures
Itis desirable to keep all but very small quantities of air from being carried
through the outfall. Air would impede the flow of effluent, and might cause
unsightly bubble boils when released through the outlet. Sometimes the
treatment plant discharging through the outfall ison a cliff or bluff, or there may
be a high overland force main between the treatment plant and the outfall. In
either case, there is potential for high-velocity flow in a partially full pipe to go
through a hydraulic jump in the pipe and entrain large quantities of air into full-
pipe flow in the outfall (3) This will reduce the outfall’s hydraulic capacity, may
introduce flow unsteadiness (e.g. a periodic burping), and create unsighily
bubbling at the surface above the discharge (9).
There are three design approaches to limit the entrainment of air into the outfall:
1. Allow the hydraulic jump or waterfall to occur, but provide a stilling section
downstream (o allow the entrained air bubbles to rise to the crown of the
section for venting before the flow proceeds into the outiall pipe; or
2. Provide a vortex drop structure in which the water swirls in a helix as it falls,
in which the water is centrifuged to the walls and air is collected at the core of
the shaft, and purged up the shaft counter to the water flow direction, or
3. Provideapressure-reducing valve in the line at the bottom of the descent, at
or below sea level.
‘The second and third approaches have been used successfully on very large
‘outfall systems (3); but the first approach, with good design, will probably be
adequate for most small outfall systems. The rise velocity of bubbles larger than a
millimeter in diameter is 0.1 m/sec or greater (9).
‘The stilling section following a section where air entrainment occurs in a jump
or cascade should have a length:
V,_ m/s
L= SP RIS x flow depth (438)
in which V is the flow velocity in the section. This will allow any bubble larger
than a millimeter to rise from the invert to the water surface and escape, before
being swept out of the stilling section. Obviously, the stilling section should be
designed with appropriate crown venting.