RES 2020-24: Quantifying Support Practice Sub-Factor Values for Erosion-Control and Sediment Retention Devices

Soil erosion rates at roadway and other construction sites can exceed those in agricultural areas by a hundred-fold (e.g., Faucette et al., 2006). If control measures are not implemented, these excess loads can lead to higher construction costs for replacing lost soil or cleaning up the exported sediment (Ledermann et al., 2010). Several literature and web-based sources detail multitudes of Best Management Practices, or BMPs, for limiting the loss of sediment with new practices continually being developed (e.g., Muste et al., 2002; Sprague et al., 2014). Recent reviews of these sources (e.g., Hangul, 2017; Schwartz and Hathaway, 2018) discuss deficiencies including the lack of long-term efficiency data (Liu et al., 2017). Moreover, the practices exhibit wide ranges of efficiency values (e.g., Theisen and Spittle, 2006; Faucette et al., 2008; Garcia et al., 2015), which may seem discerning. Nonetheless, the wide ranges should be expected if one considers all possible combinations of soil, slope, rainfall, practice design, and implementation, especially for a diverse state like Tennessee. Certain studies have attempted to account for some of this diversity (e.g., Tyner et al., 2011; Chapman et al., 2014) but they can only do so much with the available funding. Alternatively, efforts such as the National Transportation Product Evaluation Program (NTPEP) by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) have pushed standardized testing methods of different practices to provide a common ground for comparison. Soil, slope, and rainfall are set on large-scale platforms (Sprague and Sprague, 2012; AASHTO, 2014), and all practices are tested under a singular condition. The underlying assumption that practices will respond similarly regardless of the site-specific conditions remains unverified. The study, herein, combined measurements from controlled experiments with physical and empirical modeling to examine the response of silt fences and sediment tubes under different soils and climates found in Tennessee. The end products are more applicable efficiency values for roadway and other construction sites in the state.

• Record URL:
  https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/tdot/long-range-planning/research/final-reports/2020-final-reports-and-summaries/Final%20Report_RES2020-24.pdf

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Completed
• Funding: $124480
• Sponsor Organizations:

  Tennessee Department of Transportation

  James K. Polk Building
  Fifth and Deaderick Street
  Nashville, TN  United States  37243-0349
• Managing Organizations:

  Tennessee Department of Transportation

  James K. Polk Building
  Fifth and Deaderick Street
  Nashville, TN  United States  37243-0349
• Project Managers:

  Sweetney, Ryan

• Performing Organizations:

  University of Tennessee, Knoxville

  Center for Transportation Research
  Conference Center Building
  Knoxville, TN  United States  37996-4133
• Principal Investigators:

  Schwartz, John

• Start Date: 20201201
• Expected Completion Date: 20230228
• Actual Completion Date: 20230228
• USDOT Program: Transportation, Planning, Research, and Development
• Subprogram: Center for Transportation Research

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Erosion; Erosion control; Fences; Tubing
• Geographic Terms: Tennessee
• Subject Areas: Construction; Environment; Highways;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01891734
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Tennessee Department of Transportation
• Files: RIP, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Aug 28 2023 3:41PM