Abstract
The collection of rainwater from roofs, its storage and subsequent use make a significant saving in the use of potable water. The capacity of the rainwater store is important because it affects both system and initial costs. This paper describes the development of a behavioural model that simulates the performance of rainwater collectors located within the United Kingdom. The input data in time series form are used to simulate mass flows through the model based on a daily time interval. Rainfall time series from 11 different UK locations are used to simulate the performance of rainwater collectors for a range of roof areas, storage capacities and demands. A set of rainwater collector performance curves for each of the geographic locations is developed. From the location-specific curves a set of average curves is determined that is shown to be sufficiently accurate for estimating rainwater collection performance within the United Kingdom. Finally, the average performance curves are shown to be adequately represented by an exponential association type equation, resulting in a computationally efficient method of determining rainwater collector performance.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.