Basic Hydraulics: Culverts

–I
Concepts
• A culvert conveys surface water through a roadway
embankment or away from the highway right-of-
way (ROW) or into a channel along the ROW
• In addition to the hydraulic function, the culvert
must also support construction and highway traffic
and earth loads; therefore, culvert design involves
both hydraulic and structural design
• Culverts are considered minor structures, but they
are of great importance to adequate drainage and
the integrity of the facility.
Definitions
• Culvert = relatively short length of conduit used to
transport water through an embankment

• Components

• Outlet

• Barrel(s)

• Inlet
Shapes
• Typically, several shapes provide hydraulically
adequate design alternatives:
Multiple barrel culverts
Materials
• Commonly used culvert materials include concrete
(reinforced and non-reinforced), steel (smooth and
corrugated), aluminum (smooth and corrugated),
and plastic (smooth and corrugated)

• The selection of material for a culvert depends on:

• structure strength,
• hydraulic efficiency,
• installation, local construction practices,
• durability,
• cost.
Pertinent dimensions
Circular culvert – Box culvert – rise &
diameter span
Terminology
HW = headwater
TW = tailwater
Headwater
• Headwater is the depth of water on the entrance
or upstream side of the culvert as measured from
the inlet invert

• The Tailwater is the depth of water on the exit or

downstream side of the culvert, as measured from
the downstream invert
Culvert hydraulics

• What we need to know:

• For given discharge, what size culvert is required
to carry the flow without overtopping
embankment?
• For given culvert size, will specified discharge
overtop?
• For given culvert size, what is capacity without
overtopping?
• To answer these, must compute headwater depth,
using principles of hydraulics
What’s in control?

• “Control” of culvert flow may be:

• At inlet (inlet control)
• At outlet (outlet control).
• Analysis of a culvert requires us to:
• Assume inlet control, calculate headwater
depth.
• Assume outlet control, calculate headwater
depth for control at outlet.
• Pick higher of two values as appropriate
headwater value.
Data needed for culvert analysis

Item Inlet control Outlet control

Inlet area X X
Inlet edge configuration X X
Barrel shape X X
Barrel roughness X
Barrel area X
Barrel length X
Barrel slope X X
Tailwater elevation X
Inlet control

• Occurs when flow capacity of entrance is less than

flow capacity of barrel.
• Control section is located just inside culvert
entrance.
• Water surface passes through critical depth.
• Inlet capacity depends on entrance geometry.
Computing inlet
control headwater

• Culvert headwater depth

for inlet control depends
on the inlet shape and
efficiency
• Federal Highway
Administration (FHWA)
developed a series of
nomographs for standard
culvert shapes that
compute headwater
depth for inlet control
Using FHWA nomographs

• Identify the culvert type (concrete pipe, box, CMP,

etc.).
• Find correct nomograph.
• Start on the pipe diameter scale line
• Draw a straight line through the discharge scale line
• Read the value of HW/D from the appropriate HW/D
scale for the entrance type for your culvert.
• Usually two or three “scales” on nomograph that
represent the type of inlet.
• For example, on next page, scales for (1) square
edge with head wall; (2) groove end with
headwall; (3) groove end projecting
Example of FHWA
nomograph

Example:
D = 42 in.
Q = 120 cfs

Scale HW/D HW (ft)

(1) 2.5 8.8
(2) 2.1 7.4
(3) 2.2 7.7
Entrance treatment

Source: HEC-2 Users Manual

Entrance efficiency
Outlet control

• Occurs when flow capacity is limited by downstream

conditions (high-tailwater) or by capacity of the barrel
Outlet control examples
Outlet control computations

• To analyze, use energy equation:

2
vup 2
vdown
Z up + HW + =Z down +TW + + hL
2g 2g
where Zup = upstream invert elevation; HW = depth
at inlet; Vup = average velocity upstream; g =
acceleration of gravity; Zdown = downstream invert
elevation; TW = depth at outlet; Vdown = average
velocity downstream; hL = total energy loss through
culvert.
• Since Vup  Vdown we can simplify the equation

HW  (Z down  Zup )  TW  hL
Energy loss equations

• Energy loss is
hL  he  hf  ho
in which hL= total head loss; he= entrance loss; hf =
friction loss; ho= outlet (exit) loss
• Friction loss estimated with Manning’s equation
2 2
æ Qn ö æ Qn ö
h f =L ç 2/3 ÷
;(if full and circular then) L ç 8/3 ÷
è1.486 A R ø è0.464 D ø
in which L = culvert length (feet); Q = flow rate in
the culvert (cfs); n = Manning's roughness
coefficient; A = area of flow (square feet); R =
hydraulic radius (feet)
Entrance loss coefficients
(For outlet control only)

Type of Structure and Design of Entrance Coefficient, ken

Concrete Pipe Projecting from Fill (no headwall):
Socket end of pipe 0.2
Square cut end of pipe 0.5
Concrete Pipe with Headwall or Headwall and
Wingwalls:
Socket end of pipe (grooved end) 0.2
Square cut end of pipe 0.5
Rounded entrance, with rounding radius = 1/12 of diameter 0.2
Concrete Pipe:
Mitered to conform to fill slope 0.7
End section conformed to fill slope 0.5
Beveled edges, 33.7 or 45 degree bevels 0.2
Side slope tapered inlet 0.2
Corrugated Metal Pipe or Pipe-Arch:
Projected from fill (no headwall) 0.9
Headwall or headwall and wingwalls square edge 0.5
Mitered to conform to fill slope 0.7
End section conformed to fill slope 0.5
Beveled edges, 33.7 or 45 degree bevels 0.2
Side slope tapered inlet 0.2
Weir flow

• Flow over the roadway can be computed as weir

flow.
• Check the the headwater elevation to see if weir
flow occurs.
• If headwater elevation is higher than the
roadway, use iterative procedure, balancing
weir and culvert flow.
• Solution found when weir flow and culvert flow
produce same headwater elevations.

Qtotal = Qweir + Qculvert = Qgiven

Flow analysis for culverts

Outlet Control Culvert Plus Roadway

Headwater Elevation (ft)
Overtopping

Roadway Crest

Inlet Control

Top of Culvert

Flow Rate (cfs)