PhD project: Blue-green solutions for stormwater management in urban environments in cold climate

The fate of urban stormwater can be grouped in; soil infiltration, held on the surface, evaporated and evapotranspirated or excess surface runoff. It is the latter case, surface runoff that leads to problems with flooding and damage to urban infrastructure. The Norwegian standard applies a three-step approach that sorts stormwater into three groups (small, medium and large) depending to the precipitation event. More specifically the small and medium events should be managed locally with infiltration based and detention based blue-green solutions. Blue-green solutions applied in a systematic manner can be a significant contribution to building a more robust and resilient urban environment. 

We have some knowledge of the performance of blue-green solutions, like rain gardens, green roofs, and bio-retention swales in cold climates, however it is not complete. There is also a lack of knowledge about the combination of blue-green solutions, which must be investigated with the aim to identify the most optimal configurations. This will also be geographically dependent. The selection and placement of the components will influence the performance. It is also vital to include the cold climate aspects in this research. Critical factors in cold climates are the soil moisture content prior to the storm event and the temperature.

The research of PhD Candidate Vladimír Hamouz will aim to increase the knowledge about the combination effects of blue-green solutions as stormwater management in cold climate built environments. The blue-green roof test site at Høvringen (Trondheim) will be a central part of Vladimir’s work.

The supervisor team is Prof. Tone Merete Muthanna (NTNU) and Prof. Tore Kvande (NTNU).