Hydraulic Construction 2

Culvert Design
a ) a rectangular box culvert b ) a multiple opening circular culvert
Parts of a culvert

A culvert consists of three parts: the intake (also called inlet or fan), the barrel (or throat) and
the diffuser (also called outlet or expansion fan).

The cross-sectional shape of the barrel may be circular (i.e. pipe), rectangular (i.e box culvert) or
multi-cell (e.g. multi-cell box culvert).

The bottom of the barrel is called the invert while the barrel roof is called the soffit or obvert.

The training walls of the inlet and outlet are called wing walls
A typical box culvert
The bottom of the barrel is called the invert while the barrel roof is called the soffit or
obvert. The training walls of the inlet and outlet are called wing walls.
➢ Culverts are mostly designed to operate as open channel with the critical flow occurring
in the barrel in order to maximize the discharge per unit width thus minimizing the cross
section of the barrel.
➢ In culverts, the characteristics of the flow are very complicated as the flow is controlled
by many variables, including the inlet geometry, slope, size, roughness, approach and tail
water conditions etc.
➢ Inlet configuration plays a vital role in the performance of culverts. Inlet configuration
can be either projected barrel, cast in place concrete headwall and wing wall, precast end
section etc.
➢ Culvert can flow either full or partially full depending upon upstream and downstream
conditions. Flow can either be sub critical or supercritical and flow conditions can change
with time in a culvert.
Condition for outlet-controlled culvert

In the outlet control, the culvert can either flow full or partially full condition.

When the culvert is partially full, the flow will be subcritical. The flow capacity depends upon the
culvert area, shape, length, bottom slope, head losses in the culvert, and the headwater
and tail water levels.
 Ideal Flow Conditions

A culvert is designed to pass a specific flow rate with the associated natural flood level. Its hydraulic
performances are the design discharge, the upstream total head and the maximum (acceptable) head
loss ∆H.

The design discharge and flood level are deduced from the hydrological investigation of
the site in relation to the purpose of the culvert. Head losses must be minimized to reduce upstream
backwater effects (i.e. upstream flooding).

The hydraulic design of a culvert is basically the selection of an optimum compromise between
discharge capacity and head loss or afflux, and of course construction costs. Hence (short) culverts
are designed for free-surface flow with critical (flow) conditions in the barrel.
Maximum Discharge, Minimum Width and Critical Depth

for a horizontal structure of rectangular cross-section and neglecting energy loss, the maximum
discharge per unit width is achieved for critical flow conditions^ in the barrel:
Flow Condition for free surface inlet flow

The flow upstream and downstream of the culvert is typically subcritical. As the flow
approaches the culvert, the channel constriction (i.e. intake section) induces an increase in
Froude number. For the design discharge, the flow becomes near critical in the barrel.

In the barrel, the near-critical flow at design discharge is characterized by the establishment of
stationary free-surface undulations. For the designers, the characteristics of the
free-surface undulations are important for the sizing of the culvert height. If the waves leap on the
roof, the flow might cease to behave as an open channel flow and become a pipe flow.

Henderson (1966) recommended that the ratio of upstream specific energy to barrel height
should be less than 1.2 for the establishment of free-surface flow in the barrel. Such
a ratio gives a minimum clearance above the free-surface level in the barrel of about 20%.
Flow Patterns

For standard culverts, the culvert flow may exhibit various flow patterns depending upon the
discharge (hence the critical depth in barrel dc), the upstream head above the inlet invert
(H1 — zinlet), the uniform equilibrium flow depth in the barrel do, the barrel invert slope ɵ, the
tailwater depth dtw and the culvert height D.
Hee (1969) regrouped the flow patterns into two classes and eight categories altogether:
• Class I for free-surface inlet flow conditions,
• Class II for submerged entrance.
Free-surface inlet flows (Class I) take place typically for

In each class, the flow patterns can be sub-divided in terms of the control location: i.e. whether
the hydraulic control is located at the entrance (i.e. inlet control) or at the outlet (i.e. outlet
control)
Flow Condition for free surface inlet flow
Flow Condition for free surface inlet flow

When free-surface flow takes place in the barrel, the discharge is fixed only by the entry
conditions, whereas with drowned culverts, the discharge is determined by the culvert
resistance.
For short box culverts (i.e. free-surface barrel flow) in which the flow is controlled by the
inlet conditions, the discharge is typically estimated as:

where B is the barrel width and D is the barrel height. Cd equals 1 for rounded vertical
inlet edges and 0.9 for square-edged inlet. C equals 0.6 for square-edged soffit and 0.8 for
rounded soffit.
Discharge characteristics of standard culverts
Discharge characteristics of standard culverts
Free surface – outlet control

For flat (i.e. mild) flood plains, the flow pattern is 'outlet control’ d (water depth) >dc (critical water
depth) in all the waterway, as subcritical flows are controlled from downstream.
Free surface – inlet control

For flat (i.e. mild) flood plains, the flow pattern is 'outlet control’ d (water depth) >dc (critical water
depth) in all the waterway, as subcritical flows are controlled from downstream.
Submerged entrance – inlet vs outlet control

For submerged entrance cases (see following figures), the flow is controlled

by the outlet conditions when the barrel is full or drowned (Cases 6 and 7),

and by the inlet conditions when free-surface flow is observed in the barrel (Cases 5 and
8).

Culverts flowing full are controlled by the tailwater conditions (i.e. outlet control).
Submerged entrance – inlet vs outlet control
Submerged entrance – inlet vs outlet control
 Design Procedure

The design process for standard culverts can be divided into two parts:

First, a system analysis must be carried out to determine the objectives of the culvert,
the design data, the constraints, etc., including the design flow Qdes and the design
upstream total head Hdes (basically the design upstream flood height).

In a second stage, the barrel size is selected by a test-and-trial procedure, in which both inlet
control and outlet control calculations are performed.

At the end: the optimum size is the smallest barrel size allowing for inlet control operation
 Chart for head loss calculations

For a clearer image, please see Chanson

(Hydraulics of Open Channel Flow) p 453
Design Procedure

Calculations of the barrel size are iterative:

Step I. Choose the barrel dimensions (B and D).
Step 2, Assume an inlet control.
Step 2.1, Calculate the upstream total head H1ic corresponding to the design discharge
assuming inlet control. Use the formulae given in Table
Step 2.2. Repeat the above procedure (Step 2.1) for different barrel sizes until the upstream
head H1ic satisfies the design specifications (i.e. H1ic = Hdes)
Step 3. Assume an outlet control.
Step 3.1. Use design charts to calculate the head loss ∆H from inlet to outlet
for the design discharge Qdes
Step 3.2. Calculate the upstream total head H1oc (H1oc = Htw + ∆H )
Step 4. Compare the inlet control and outlet control results:
The larger value controls
When the inlet control design head Hdes (used in Step 2.2) is larger than H1oc inlet control
operation is confirmed and the barrel size is correct.

On the other hand, if H1oc is larger than Hdes (used in Step 2.2), outlet control takes place.

Return to Step 3.1 and increase the barrel size until H1oc satisfies the design specification Hdes
(used in Step 2.2).
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