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Tokyo's Underground Discharge Channel

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41–45 of 45 posts

Re: Tokyo's Underground Discharge Channel

#41
Fun fact:

There is a software for modelling drainage systems called SWMM (Stormwater Management Model) that has been around since 1970s (!) and is programmed in C and released as free software. Still most modern drainage and sewer research is modelled via this software and there are several companies that built a GUI for simpler usage. However the core is often still based on this nearly 50 year old software which I find amazing [edit: it has been updated since then and originally it was written in Fortran].

The model has hydraulics and hydrology capabilities [0], i.e. it can model stuff like pipe pressure but also takes infiltration of stormwater (aka "rain") into the surface into account. When using it you have to define your sewer (which is mostly a directed graph) and so called catchments where you define which areas drain into which nodes (inlets) by defining parameters like impervious area, slope, etc. You can then let it rain on your area of interest (e.g. a city) and find out which nodes get flooded at specific points in time (or hopefully not).

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storm_Water_Management_Model#H...

Re: Tokyo's Underground Discharge Channel

#43

It's amazing just how much stuff there is under Tokyo - not just infrastructure like this and the usual transport links but entire multi-storey shopping malls. There's almost a whole city beneath the city. It's possible to travel for miles without ever seeing daylight!

Even just the transportation infrastructure is incredible to me. I was just there and it was honestly amazing to me how deep the metro stations can be. Multiple long escalators/stairways from surface to platform.

Re: Tokyo's Underground Discharge Channel

#44
post #15

These enormous underground projects are so interesting. I've been following the Chicago Deep Tunnel project, which is nearing completion after half a century of work.[1] Because Chicago was built on swampland and next to the lake, rainwater used to be a huge problem because it didn't have anywhere to go when it rains, except into sewers - which used to be well under capacity for burst rainfall, which led to basement…

Probably wouldn't want to be there today. ;) (Lots of rain, I think the tunnels are full.)

A couple years ago we stopped by the Lincoln Oasis (rest stop consisting of a bridge over the interstate that carried restaurants and similar instead of traffic.) As I was heading back to my car, I heard a loud whooshing noise and saw what looked like a geyser next to the ramp to get back on to the highway. I walked over to inspect and found a large grate fenced off and signed Chicago Water Reclamation (or something similar.) We had had a lot of rain the night before and apparently this was a vent to release air as the tunnel filled. The location is very near one of the quarries that is used to hold excess runoff.

Re: Tokyo's Underground Discharge Channel

#45
post #15

These enormous underground projects are so interesting. I've been following the Chicago Deep Tunnel project, which is nearing completion after half a century of work.[1] Because Chicago was built on swampland and next to the lake, rainwater used to be a huge problem because it didn't have anywhere to go when it rains, except into sewers - which used to be well under capacity for burst rainfall, which led to basement…

>twelve football stadiums stacked together I understand that football stadium play area is standard, but how do you measure height? Is it a foul to kick the ball too high in the air? The play area, I assume isn't limited vertically.

Excellent point. I just wish they'd use the correct SI unit for this kind of thing - "libraries of congress".
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