Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
🛠️ A drainage pipe 🛠️ To add drainage
underdrain

underdrain

6.8
A pipe below ground that carries away extra water from soil and buildings
  • noun
  • /ˈʌndərˌdreɪn/
  • Specialized
translation icon : drenaje subterráneo
  • An underdrain is essential for preventing water damage by directing excess moisture away from the foundation.

Examples

  • This stainless steel folded plate underdrain can be custom designed for new or existing filters.

    Academic text (1998)

  • This filter underdrain system with orifices creates hydraulic jets of water for vigorous media scrubbing during a backwash cycle.

    Academic text (1998)

  • Underdrain system

    Academic text (1998)

  • The underdrains feature water.

    Academic text (2002)

  • The 0.25 mm punched openings allow the filter sand to sit directly on the underdrain and air scour the laterals.

    Academic text (2002)

  • The trapezoidal shape provides low headloss at maximum backwash rates, and the unit's air-scour lateral system releases air above the underdrain, eliminating blowouts.

    Academic text (1998)

  • The construction crew installed an underdrain to manage excess water in the basement.

  • The landscape architect designed a system that includes an underdrain to keep the garden free of standing water.

Synonyms

culvert
vsunderdrain
  • Specialized
9 6.8

A pipe under a road or railway that lets water flow

is placed below ground to remove water from soil and building foundations
drainage ditch
vsunderdrain
4 3.2

A narrow channel dug in the ground that carries away extra water

sits below ground and removes groundwater from soil rather than surface flow

Surface Forms

underdrain singular
underdrains plural

Morphology

underdrain = drain (transparent) = under + drain

The meaning is directly constructed from 'under' (beneath) + 'drain' (a pipe/channel), describing a drain located below ground.

Etymology

Underdrain comes from the simple English parts under- ('below') and drain ('to remove water'), so an underdrain is literally a pipe or channel placed below the ground to carry away extra water.