180

technical paper

Blockage effects on scouring downstream

of box culverts under unsteady flow*

S Sorourian†, A Keshavarzi and J Ball

School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, NSW

B Samali
Institute for Infrastructure Engineering, University of Western Sydney, Penrith, NSW

ABSTRACT: This experimental study is concerning scouring at the outlet of partially blocked
box culverts under unsteady flow condition. The blockage of culverts is considered as an important
factor on the scouring pattern at the outlet of the blocked box culverts. To investigate the effect of
blockage on scouring pattern downstream of a box culvert under unsteady flow, some experimental
tests were carried out in a laboratory flume located in the Hydraulics Laboratory of the University
of Technology Sydney. The experimental tests were carried on in both partially blocked and non-
blocked conditions and consequentially the effect of blockage on scour pattern is investigated. It
was found that 88% to 98% of maximum scour depth occurs in the rising limb of the hydrograph.

KEYWORDS: Box-culvert; blockage; scouring; unsteady flow.

REFERENCE: Sorourian, S., Keshavarzi, A., Ball, J. & Samali, B. 2014, “Blockage effects
on scouring downstream of box culverts under unsteady flow”, Australian Journal of Water
Resources, Vol. 18, No. 2, pp. 180-190, http://dx.doi.org/10.7158/W13-031.2014.18.2.

NOTATIONS hd depth of water at culvert outlet

ht tailwater depth
As scoured area
hu upstream depth of water
ds scoured depth t time of experiment
dsm maximum scour depth u mean flow velocity
dsm(t=i) maximum scour depth at time i (i = 10, 20, X horizontal axis (flow direction)
..., 110) of the test
Xsm location of maximum scour hole in
ds0(t=i) scour depth at culvert outlet at time i (i = 10, horizontal axis
20, ..., 110) of the test Xsm(t=i) location of maximum scour hole in
d50 median grain size of bed material horizontal axis at time i of the test
Fd densimetric Froude number  water density
Fj jet Froude number s sediment density
Fr flow Froude number at the outlet of the
culvert 1 INTRODUCTION
g gravity acceleration
Culvert is a short conduit that usually carries
H culvert height
storm-water runoff under a roadway, railway or an
* Paper W13-031 submitted 25/06/13; accepted for publication
embankment. The primary purpose of a culvert is to
after review and revision 6/07/14. carry storm runoff water. Culverts are occasionally
† Corresponding author Sayana Sorourian can be contacted at designed to fulfil special functions in addition
sayana.sorourian@gmail.com. to their primary function as drainage structures.

© Institution of Engineers Australia, 2014 Australian Journal of Water Resources, Vol 18 No 2

 “Blockage effects on scouring downstream of box ...” – Sorourian, Keshavarzi, Ball & Samali
Culverts can be designed to operate under low head
and minimum energy losses in roadway crossings.
Often, culverts must be modified in order to fulfil a
secondary function.
The most common shapes for culverts are rectangular
(box), circular, elliptical, pipe-arch, and arch. The
shape selection is based on the cost of construction,
the feasibility of implementation, the limitation
on upstream water surface elevation, roadway
embankment height, and hydraulic performance
(Norman et al, 2001).
There are large number of bridges and culverts in
urban and countryside in Australia. In a research
in 1997 in New South Wales, six types of hydraulic
structures were detected as: bridges, causeways,
culverts, floodgates and weirs in an area about 16.7%
of the New South Wales (Williams & Watford, 1997).
Over 5300 structures were inspected for the above
research purposes; about 3000 and 1900 were culverts
and bridges, respectively. It means that more than
92% of the six different types of structures identified
were culverts and small bridges. Additionally, for
the Sydney region, 792 bridges and bridge sized
culverts’ projects were reported in Transport Road
and Maritime Services (2012) website.
Statistics show the importance of culvert structure
in terms of their number and functional aspects.
In terms of functional aspects, blockage of culverts
and bridges during floods (figure 1(a)) is the most
important issue for the Roads and Maritime Services
and local councils (figure 1). It creates a high risk
of damage to private properties and public assets
(Weeks et al, 2009).
Another important factor for design of culverts and
bridges is the frequency of rainfall and runoff in
Australia. This makes it vital for drainage systems to
function properly in critical circumstances. In August
1998, a severe storm in the city of Wollongong caused
extensive flooding. Lots of properties were damaged
with loss of life and services were interrupted.
Inspection of the flooded waterways in the following
(a)
Figure 1: (a) An example of culvert blockage (Environment Agency, 2010). (b) Flood damage to private
properties and public assets in 2010 in Brisbane, Australia (The Wheel of Brisbane, 2011).
Australian Journal of Water Resources
181
days showed that most waterways, culverts and
bridges were blocked by debris and damages
happened due to blockage of culverts and bridges.
Because of this blockage, flood levels increased
upstream of railways and roads and diverted the
flow out of its normal stream into overland flow
paths, increasing the extent of flood damage (Rigby
et al, 2002).
Many studies have been done on hydraulics of
culverts and bridges. There is a great deal of literature
available with respect to culverts and scouring
downstream of culverts, however there is still a
lack of information on the blockage aspect and its
importance to scouring downstream of culvert. Abt
et al (1986) studied culverts slope effects on outlet
scouring depth at outlet of the culvert and pointed
out that a sloped culvert can increase the maximum
scour depth from 10% to 40% over the scour
dimensions for a horizontal culvert. Abt et al (1987)
investigated the influence of culvert shape on outlet
scour and determined that dimensions of scour at the
outlet of circular culverts significantly varies from
other shapes of culverts. Abt et al (1996) formulated
the dimension of outlet scour in relation to culvert
discharge, hydraulic radius, time and material
gradation. Abida & Townsend (1991) developed an
equation for local scour downstream of box-culverts
as a function of Froude number and sediment size
and non-dimensional scour depth is expressed as:
0.275
dsm   F 2   dm 
 exp  r   0.373    (1)
H   2.03   H 
where dsm is the maximum depth of scour, H is culvert
height, Fr is Froude number and dm is effective grain
size. Liriano et al (2002) studied scour at culverts
influenced by turbulent flow and pointed out that
the peak values of turbulence intensities over the
fixed bed coincide with the location of the maximum
scour depth for the fully developed scour hole.
Hotchkiss et al (2006) examined the jump geometry
and effectiveness of each jump type and proposed
(b)
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182 “Blockage effects on scouring downstream of box ...” – Sorourian, Keshavarzi, Ball & Samali
a design procedure which is applicable to culverts
with approach Froude numbers from 2.6 to 6.
Chen et al (2009) tested the effectiveness of several
energy dissipation structures for reducing scour
downstream of box culverts and found out that the
combination of the low sill and a drop is the most
effective way for dissipating energy.
There are some studies on the blockage of the
bridges and culvert during flood in Australia.
As an example, Rigby et al (2002) reported the
blockage of bridges and culverts in flood events
in Wollongong city in 1998. They collected data
on blockage of culverts and discussed causes and
effects of culvert blockage. Barthelmess & Rigby
(2011) confirmed that culvert and bridge blockage
is dependent on debris availability, mobility and
transportability factors. Rigby & Barthelmess (2011)
explored culvert blockage mechanisms and their
impact on flood behaviour. They noticed one of the
consequences of blockage being the flow diversions
caused by blockage of culvert. Even small blockages
created diversions that would not usually occur and
considerably change flood behaviour.
Some general issues are discussed in the literature in
relation to culverts such as blockage and scouring.
They may interrupt culvert’s function and lead to
other serious problems like culverts over turning and
collapsing. Another risk is that culvert blockage may
lead to overtopping the culvert and lead to outlet
scouring and embankment failure. However, there
is no documented study so far on this phenomenon.
Although the few latter studies were important
in terms of culvert’s blockage statistics and flood
behaviour itself, there is still a significant gap in
engineering design in this field of study. What
exactly happens after a culvert is blocked, in a fully
blocked and also in partially blocked conditions,
and what would be their effects on scouring at the
outlet and how they affect the stability of the culvert
is of interest to engineers. Therefore, the focus of this
(a)
Figure 2: (a) Experimental flume and test section. (b) Culvert model, plan view (units are in mm).
(c) Culvert model profile view. (d) Inlet view.
Australian Journal of Water Resources
paper is to find the scouring pattern at downstream
of the culvert under unsteady flow condition. To
understand this problem, an experimental study was
carried out and the results are presented in this paper.
2 EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
Experimental tests associated with this study
were carried out in a scour testing facility in an
experimental flume located in the Hydraulics
Laboratory of the University of Technology Sydney.
The experimental flume is a 19 m long concrete
flume with width of 610 mm and height of 600 mm
(figure 2(a)).
Water was supplied to a static tank from the storage
tank. The water, in turn, enters the flume through a
valve which controls the water flow rate, and then
it runs through the box-culvert. The box culvert was
installed in a mobile test section of 4 m length. In
the test section, the bed was covered with 150 mm
thickness sand material. Two bed materials were
chosen for the experimental tests. The median grain
sizes for bed material were 0.85 and 2 mm. At the
end of the flume, a sluice gate is installed to control
downstream water depth. Clear water was used
throughout the experimental program.
The opening of culvert was 200×200 mm and the
length of culvert’s barrel was 900 mm. There were
transitions with 30° flare at the inlet and outlet of
the culvert. These transitions would prevent the
unwanted scour holes.
The culvert model is shown in figures 2(b) and 2(c).
To prevent piping phenomenon, the outlet culvert’s
wall was glued to the flume’s bed. As well, to seal
the model, both culvert sides and also the transitions
were glued to the flume’s walls. Prior to each test, the
sand was levelled with the culvert inlet and outlet in
the sand basin. The sand bed was gradually saturated
to remove any air from voids and achieve uniform
(b)
(c) (d)
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 “Blockage effects on scouring downstream of box ...” – Sorourian, Keshavarzi, Ball & Samali
density. The sand surface was levelled once again to
make it level with culvert invert. For the first stage
of this experimental test, first set of uniform graded
non-cohesive sediment was used as bed material.
Experimental tests were conducted in partially
blocked and non-blocked conditions. As mentioned
previously, Rigby et al (2002) collected field data on
blocked culverts after the Wollongong flood in 1998.
They reported that about 80% of culverts are blocked
with minimum of 40% blockage at the entrance. To
simulate 40% blockage at the inlet of culvert in the
laboratory, a 200×80 mm plate was installed at the
opening of the culvert.
The most common blockage consists of mixed
material types which is vegetation and urban
material is found in about 70% of the cases and
typically blocking the culvert from the top down
(Rigby et al., 2002). Therefore, to make the situation
similar to what naturally happens by debris in flood
conditions the plate had 40 mm free space from the
bottom of the culvert (figure 2(d)).
To make an unsteady flow, a hydrograph was
designed for each set to be conveyed by the culvert.
Figure 3 shows the stepwise hydrographs for two
bed materials. Each set run in partially blocked and
non-blocked conditions.
In the first set with the finer sediment (d50 = 0.85 mm),
each time step takes 10 minutes (figure 3). Measuring
of the scour hole was done for each time step
conducted at the end of each time step. It means after
about 8 minutes of changing the flow rate the scour
profile was recorded.
In the second set (d50 = 2 mm), each step takes 15
minutes and the hydrograph peak flow was 12.8 L/s.
The same as previous set, measuring was done in the
last few minutes of each step.
Figure 3: Stepwise hydrograph for tests both in partially blocked and non-blocked conditions – First
set = hydrograph for material with d50 = 0.85 mm, and second set = hydrograph for material
with d50 = 2 mm.
Australian Journal of Water Resources
183
Both experimental sets were carried out for two
conditions; the non-blocked situation and the
partially blocked condition with the blockage ratio
of 40%. Table 1 indicates the experimental test set
up for both conditions including degree of blockage,
flow rate and densimetric Froude number (Fd) which
is defined as:
u
Fd  (2)
 s 
   1  gd50
 
where u is mean flow velocity, s is sediment density,
 is water density, g is gravity acceleration and d50
is median grain size of the sediment. Densimetric
Froude number is used to accurately predict the
sediment discharge (Aguirre-Pe et al, 2003). Ade &
Rajaratnam (1998) collected data from 13 different
sources and concluded that densimetric Froude
number (Fd) is the main parameter to describe the
local scouring.
Fj is the Froude number of the jet below the blockage,
hd is the depth of water at the culvert outlet and ht is
the depth of tail water downstream the culvert. Table
1 depicts the experimental test classification.
3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Figure 4 shows the formation of scour profile under
an unsteady flow in each step. In figures 4(a) to 4(g),
the bed profile at each time step in partially blocked
and non-blocked conditions with the median grain
size (d50 = 0.85) were compared.
Figures 5(a) to 5(g) show the formation of scour hole in
bed material with the median grain size equals to 2 mm
in both partially blocked and non-blocked conditions.
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184 “Blockage effects on scouring downstream of box ...” – Sorourian, Keshavarzi, Ball & Samali

Table 1: Experimental tests condition.

d50 Blockage Flow rate hu hd ht

Test Fr Fj Fd
[mm] degree [%] [L/s] [mm] [mm] [mm]
3.0 0.32 – 4.2 – 60 60
6.0 0.39 – 6.0 – 85 75
8.0 0.69 – 9.7 – 70 75
US1B0 0.85 0 10.4 0.96 – 13.2 98 67 68
7.8 0.75 – 10.1 82 65 69
5.9 0.57 – 7.7 69 65 70
3.1 0.61 – 6.5 45 40 37
3.1 0.44 0.55 5.2 90 50 50
6.0 0.42 0.85 6.3 130 80 85
8.0 0.62 1.17 9.0 140 75 80
US1B402 0.85 40 10.4 1.13 1.69 14.7 155 60 70
8.0 0.69 1.21 9.7 140 70 80
6.0 0.46 0.87 6.8 125 75 75
3.1 0.61 0.62 6.5 85 40 40
6.6 0.29 – 3.3 110 110 110
8.8 0.44 – 4.9 100 100 100
10.7 0.47 – 5.4 110 110 110
US2B0 2 0 12.8 0.76 – 7.9 95 90 90
10.7 0.44 – 5.1 115 115 120
8.8 0.39 – 4.4 110 110 115
6.6 0.29 – 3.3 110 110 110
6.6 0.39 0.88 4.1 110 90 90
8.8 0.48 1.14 5.1 140 95 90
10.7 0.58 1.39 6.2 160 95 95
US2B402 2 40 12.8 1.39 2.09 11.8 180 60 80
10.7 0.69 1.46 7.0 160 85 90
8.8 0.34 1.01 4.1 160 120 120
6.6 0.19 0.69 2.5 160 145 180

3.1 Maximum scour depth
3.1.1 First set: Material with d50 = 0.85 mm
A comparison between these two conditions
shows that in both cases the most proportion of the
maximum scour depth occurred before the peak
flow and in the rising limb of the hydrograph. In
non-blocked condition 88 % of the maximum scour
depth at final step (dsm(t=70)) was formed during the
rising limb of hydrograph. While in partially blocked
condition the development of maximum scour depth
observed was 98% of the maximum scour depth at
the final step.
The significant difference was found at the outlet of
culvert at X = 0, where the scour depth at peak flow
rate (ds0(t=40)) at that point for non-blocked condition is
6.4 mm, while at the same point in partially blocked
condition it is 24.4 mm (figure 4(d)). Therefore, 74%
increase in the depth of scour hole at culvert outlet
was found for partially blocked condition.
3.1.2 Second set: Material with d50 = 2 mm
The major part of forming scour hole for both
partially blocked and non-blocked conditions,
same as previous set, happened in rising limb of
hydrograph. 90% and 95% of the maximum scour
depth were formed during rising limb of hydrograph
in partially blocked and non-blocked conditions
respectively (figures 5(d) and 5(g)).

Australian Journal of Water Resources Vol 18 No 2

 “Blockage effects on scouring downstream of box ...” – Sorourian, Keshavarzi, Ball & Samali 185

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

(e)

(f)

(g)

Figure 4: Scour profile with sediment type one. Flow rate is (a) 3 L/s in rising limb; (b) 6 L/s in
rising limb; (c) 8 L/s in rising limb; (d) 10 L/s is the peak flow rate; (e) 8 L/s in falling limb;
(f) 6 L/s in falling limb; and (g) 3 L/s in falling limb.

Australian Journal of Water Resources Vol 18 No 2

186 “Blockage effects on scouring downstream of box ...” – Sorourian, Keshavarzi, Ball & Samali

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

(e)

(f)

(g)

Figure 5: Scour profile with sediment type two (d50 = 2 mm). Flow rate is (a) 3 L/s in rising limb;
(b) 6 L/s in rising limb; (c) 8 L/s in rising limb; (d) 10 L/s is the peak flow rate; (e) 8 L/s
in falling limb; (f) 6 L/s in falling limb; and (g) 3 L/s in falling limb.

Australian Journal of Water Resources Vol 18 No 2

 “Blockage effects on scouring downstream of box ...” – Sorourian, Keshavarzi, Ball & Samali 187

3.2 Scouring area
According to figure 2(c), the scour area As is the
eroded area below the bed level. The scoured area
for each step is reflected in table 2. The same as
maximum scour depth, the major scouring has
happened in the rising limb of hydrograph. Figure
6 shows the scoured area in relation to densimetric
Froude number for both bed materials. It is shown
that for both bed materials the scoured area in
partially blocked condition is significantly more than
non-blocked condition.
3.2.1 First set: Material with d50 = 0.85 mm
In non-blocked condition the eroded area in the
step of peak flow is 86% of the eroded area in the
last step which is the total scour area. In blocked
condition 95% of total scour area happens by the
peak flow step. According to figure 6(a), the final
scoured area in partially blocked condition for first
sediment type (d50  = 0.85 mm) is 18% more than
non-blocked condition.
3.2.2 Second set: Material with d50 = 2 mm
75% of the total scoured area occurred by the peak
flow in rising limb of the hydrograph in non-blocked
condition. In partially blocked condition, 95% of
the scoured area happened in the rising limb. The
final scoured area in partially blocked condition in
the second type (d50 = 2 mm) is 19% more than non-
blocked condition (figure 6(b)).

Table 2: Location of maximum scour depth along horizontal axis (Xsm).

Test d50 [mm] Time [minutes] Flow rate [L/s] Fd Xsm [mm] dsm [mm] As [mm2]
10 3 4.20 300 11.2 5200
20 6 6.00 200 20.5 10,905
30 8 9.70 200 36.6 22,095
US1B0 0.85 40 10 13.20 250 49.3 45,745
50 8 10.10 200 52.8 53,135
60 6 7.70 300 56.2 54,670
70 3 6.50 300 56.0 53,070
10 3 5.20 150 38.7 25,005
20 6 6.30 200 35.7 25,985
30 8 9.00 200 41.4 34,685
US1B402 0.85 40 10 14.70 300 56.4 59,280
50 8 9.70 350 55.7 62,445
60 6 6.80 300 57.1 63,675
70 3 6.50 300 56.5 62,470
15 6 0.29 350 1.3 145
30 8 0.44 350 2.2 –50
45 10 0.47 350 7.9 2355
US2B0 2 60 12 0.76 300 48.8 34,755
75 10 0.44 300 49.4 41,380
90 8 0.39 300 51.6 41,625
105 6 0.29 300 51.1 41,535
15 6 0.39 100 0.6 –580
30 8 0.48 100 8.5 2030
45 10 0.58 100 31.6 20,010
US2B402 2 60 12 1.39 250 43.2 46,990
75 10 0.69 250 48.9 50,015
90 8 0.34 300 48.8 49,520
105 6 0.19 300 48.4 49,495

Australian Journal of Water Resources Vol 18 No 2

188 “Blockage effects on scouring downstream of box ...” – Sorourian, Keshavarzi, Ball & Samali
(a)
Figure 6: Densimetric Froude number versus eroded area. Median grain size of bed material d50 is
(a) 0.85 mm and (b) 2 mm.
3.3 Location of maximum scour
depth along horizontal axis
Table 2 depicts the location of maximum scour depth
along the flow direction (Xsm). Results of partially
blocked and non-blocked tests are reflected in the
table. It is shown that the distance of maximum
scour depth from the culvert outlet (Xsm) in non-
blocked conditions decreases in the rising limb of
hydrograph. It means that location of the maximum
scour hole moves toward the culvert outlet during
the rising limb of hydrograph. On the other hand, the
location of maximum scour hole in partially blocked
conditions increases with the increase of the flow
rate. In other words, the distance between maximum
scour depth and culvert outlet increases in rising
limb of hydrograph. The ratio of Xsm(t=40)/Xsm(t=0) in
non-blocked condition is 0.83, this ratio in partially
blocked condition is 2 for sediment with d 50 =
0.85 mm. The same results are reached in coarser bed
material (d50 = 2 mm). The ratio of Xsm(t=60)/Xsm(t=0) is
0.85 and 2.5 for non-blocked and partially blocked
conditions, respectively.
4 CONCLUSIONS
This laboratory study investigated the scouring
phenomenon in sand beds for an unsteady flow at the
outlet of box culverts, when the culverts are blocked
by debris. Results showed that about 88% to 98% of
scour hole forms during rising limb of hydrograph.
In all steps of hydrograph, the maximum scour depth
and the scoured area was more in partially blocked
condition and the difference was significant at the
outlet of culvert. In partially blocked condition the
distance between the location of maximum scour
depth and culvert outlet increases during the rising
limb of hydrograph while in non-blocked condition
the location of maximum scour hole moves toward
culver outlet. The practical usefulness of this study
would be in prediction of the culvert failure. Further
Australian Journal of Water Resources
(b)
research would be conducted with higher flow
rates and various bed materials to generalise the
results and lead to develop an equation for scouring
prediction downstream partially blocked culverts
under unsteady flow.
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190 “Blockage effects on scouring downstream of box ...” – Sorourian, Keshavarzi, Ball & Samali

SAYANA SOROURIAN

Sayana Sorourian is a postgraduate student in the School of Civil and

Environmental Engineering at University of Technology, Sydney. She received
her Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in Civil Engineering from Bahai
Institute for Higher Education in Iran. Her research field is in sediment motion
with an emphasis on scouring downstream of culverts. As part of this research
she is considering how blockage of the culvert barrel will influence the potential
scour. Prior to starting her PhD, she was engaged with private companies
working in the water resources field in Iran for 7 years. She is currently a
member of American Society of Civil Engineers and International Association
of Hydraulic Research.

ALIREZA KESHAVARZI

Alireza Keshavarzi is Professor of Water Engineering in the Water Department

at Shiraz University, Iran. Currently he is a Research Fellow in School of Civil
and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Information
Technology, University of Technology Sydney. He obtained his PhD from
University of New South Wales in 1998 and spent 7 years in water industry
before starting his postgraduate studies at the University of New South
Wales. His research interests cover a range of areas including hydraulics of
open channel flow; river engineering; hydraulics of sediment transport with
the influence of coherent turbulent flow structure; scouring process around
hydraulic structures; and stochastic hydraulics, water consumption behaviour
and water use management. He has published many journal papers on these
topics. He is a member of International Association of Hydraulic Research and
Iranian Hydraulic Association.

JAMES BALL

James Ball is an Associate Professor in the School of Civil and Environmental

Engineering at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). His primary research
interest is in the development and application of catchment modelling systems
for flood estimation. This includes the determination of parameters for these
systems and the use of information technology in the determination of these
parameters. As a result of his research activities, James has been appointed
by Engineers Australia as the Editor responsible for the current revision
to Australian Rainfall and Runoff. He is a Council Member of International
Association of Hydraulic Research (IAHR), a member of the IAHR Committee
on Hydroinformatics, and a co-opted member of Engineers Australia’s National
Committee on Water Engineering.

BIJAN SAMALI

Bijan Samali is Professor of Structural Engineering and the Director of

Infrastructure Systems in the Institute for Infrastructure Engineering at the
University of Western Sydney. He received his Doctorate from George Washington
University in Washington DC in 1984. He has published over 430 technical
papers in engineering journals and conference proceedings. His main research
interests lie in the general area of structural engineering, particularly structural
dynamics including wind and earthquake engineering with special emphasis on
structural control, dynamic measurement and analysis of buildings and bridges,
damage detection and structural health monitoring, and use of smart materials
in engineering applications. He has over 28 years of academic experience and
engagement with industry as a specialist consultant for over 30 years.

Australian Journal of Water Resources Vol 18 No 2

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