11/5/2015 PavingexpertGradientsandFalls

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Introduction Drainage

End/CrossFall SettingOutLevels
Understanding
Gradient Pavement
Drainage
ExpressingFall
Coverting%ages
andratios
Findfallperm
TypicalFalls

Introduction
Mostpavinganddrainagereliesonfalltocarryawaythewatertosomewhereless
troublesome.Fallmayalsobereferredtoasslopeor,morecorrectly,gradient.Bymakingone
partofthepavementordrainagepipehigherthananother,gravitycanberelieduponto
persuadethewaterinapreferreddirection.

Buthowmuchfallisenough?Andcanyouhavetoomuch?
[1]Themostobviousexceptionsarepermeablepaving ,wherethewatergoesthroughthesurfaceandintotheground,and
somelanddrains whicharelaidflatandthenrelyonhydrostaticpressuretodrivethewateronewayortheother.

Types of Fall:
Theterm'fall'isoftenusedinrelationtopavinganddrainage,butitissometimesfurther
qualifiedbytalkingaboutendfallandcrossfall.

Endfall:
Thisisalsoknownmorecorectlyaslongitudinalfallandit
describesthefallorgradientalongthelengthofa
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pavementorsurface.

Crossfall:
Knownmorecorrectlyastransversefall,itdescribesthe
fallorgradientacrossthebreadthofapavementor
surface.

Endfallandcrossfall

Onsomepavements,notablythosecoveringlargerareassuchasplazasandbiggercarparks,it's
notalwayspossibletodeterminejustwhichdirectionisendfallorwhichiscrossfall.Itmaybe
thattheprojectengineerhasarbitrarilydecidedthatoneparticularorientationislongitudinal
andsoisrepresentedasendfall,andperpendiculartothatwillbethecrossfall.

However,insuchsituations,it'softeneasierjusttotalkabout"fall"fullstop!

Understanding Gradient
Thereneedstobesomeuniversallyunderstoodmethodfordescribinghowmuchslopeorfall
thereisonanygivenstructure,suchasapavementorapipe.Thewaythisisachievedisby
measuringhowmuchthatstructurerisesorfallsoveraspecifieddistance.

Asshowninthediagrambelow,itshouldbeapparentthatapipemeasuring1minlengthwhich
is100mmhigheratoneendthantheother(blue)hasmorefallthanapipewith50mmdifference
overthesamedistance(red),orapipethathasthat100mmofdifferenceovera1.5mlength
(yellow).

Thesetwovalues,namelyamountofdifferenceinlevelandthedistanceoverwhichthat
differenceoccurs,areusedtodefineanygivengradient.Intheusefuleasytoremember
equationusedfortheremainderofthispage,theleveldifferenceisreferredtoas"Rise"(or
fall)whilethedistanceisreferredtoas"Run".

Gradient=RiseRun

Expressing Fall
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Thisequationresultsinadimensionlessvalueorratiothatallowsdirectcomparisonbetween
variousslopes.Intheexamplesusedabove...

100mm1000mm=0.1

50mm1000mm=0.05

100mm1500mm=0.067

Thesevaluesaremostcommonlyconvertedintopercentages....

0.1=10%

0.05=5%

0.067=6.7%

....butpercentagescanbehard,ifnotimpossible,tovisualise,soamorecommonlyencountered
methodofexpressionisas"1insummat"ratios...

0.1=10%=1in10

0.05=5%=1in20

0.067=6.7%=1in15

Agradientof,forexample,1in45meansthereis1unitoffall(orrise)forevery45unitsofrun.

Thatcouldbe1metreoffallover45metresofrun,or1inchoffallover45inchesofrun,or1
mileoffallover45miles.

Gradientratiosaredimensionless,soaslongastheunitsofrise/fallandrunarethesame,the
ratioholdstrue.

Converting between ratios and percentages

Agradientexpressedasapercentagecanbeconvertedtoaratiobydividing100bythe
percentagevalue:

15.9%....10015.9=6.29sotheratiois1in6.29(1:6.29)

Agradientexpressedasaratiocanbeconvertedtoapercentagebydiving100bythe
denominatoroftheratio:

1:24...10024=4.166'=4.17%

Calculators:
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Toconvertagradient Toconvertagradientratio
percentagetoaratio: toapercentage:

Gradient= % Ratio=1: 100

WorkItOut WorkItOut

...isequivalenttoaratioof... ...isequivalenttoagradientof...

1: 1 %

Finding fall per metre:

Todeterminetheamountoffall(orrise)fromaratio:

Example 1:

Aresidentialpatioistobebuiltanditwilldrain
towardsthegardenarea.Thepatiowillbe4.2m
wideandfallforthisprojectisrequiredtobe
1:60.

Whatistheleveldifferencebetweenthegarden
edgeandwherethepavingmeetsthehouse?

Agradientof1:60meansthattherewillbe1unitoffallforevery60unitsofpatiowidth.

Thepatioistobe4.2mwide,soifthatdistance(therun)isdividedby60,theresultisthe1unit
offall.We'llworkinmillimetresratherthanmetres...

Fromtheabove....

Fall=4,200mm60=70mm

So,thereneedstobe70mmoffallacrossthepatio.

Tocheck:1:60=160=0.167

704200=0.167

Example 2:

Asurfacewaterpipelinkingaroadgullytoamanholeisrequiredtobelaidatagradientof1:90

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Calculatetheamountoffallpermetre.

190=0.011m=11mm

FallCalculator
Enterdistance(run)andgradientrequired:

Distance= metres

Gradient=1:

WorkItOut

Youwillneedapproximately.....
mmoffalloverthatdistance

Whichisequivalentto...
mmoffallperlinearmetre

Some regularly used falls:

Related pages on this site

Drainage

SettingOutLevels

PavementDrainage

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