Summary

Urban flood prevention is an intensifying prerequisite of urban inhabitation due to a multiplicity of threats to population health and property. One of the components of urbanisation that can fail to fulfil its function and cause urban flooding is gully pot clogging. Frequently this is the result of an insufficient or inappropriate cleaning frequency of gully pots; and although formulas to resolve this have been proposed, they do not take in consideration some factors that influence gully pot efficiency.
Therefore, the aim of this study was to test such features through the experimental set up and study of the performance of a scale 1:1 transparent gully pot efficiency, such as discharge, sediment size and depth are analysed, discussed and demonstrated. The sediment deposition over time in the gully pot can be divided in three stages: linear build up, constant deposition, parabolic build up - decreasing deposition and zero build up - no further increase of mass, change in geometry of the deposited solids and risk of clogging.
The results show that the most influencing parameter in gully pot efficiency is the flow pattern, which is influenced by diverse factors, namely gully pot geometry, flow velocity, discharge and inlet direction. The outcome of these experiments, combined with further research about the sediment concentration in runoff water, can be used to predict sediment build up in the gully pot. Overall, although this research is not conclusive, it presents thought provoking considerations whilst indicating avenues for future research.