CULVERT DESIGN

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CVE 541

Dr. S.O. Ajamu

 The function of a culvert is to convey surface water across a

highway, railroad, or other embankment. In addition to the

hydraulic function, the culvert must carry construction,

highway, railroad, or other traffic and earth loads. Therefore,

culvert design involves both hydraulic and structural design

considerations.

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 Culverts are available in a variety of sizes, shapes, and

materials. These factors, along with several others, affect their

capacity and overall performance. Sizes and shapes may vary

from small circular pipes to extremely large arch sections that

are sometimes used in place of bridges.

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 The most commonly used culvert shape is circular, but arches, boxes, and elliptical

shapes are used, as well. Pipe arch, elliptical, and rectangular shapes are generally used in

lieu of circular pipe where there is limited cover. Arch culverts have application in

locations where less obstruction to a waterway is a desirable feature, and where

foundations are adequate for structural support. Box culverts can be designed to pass

large flows and to fit nearly any site condition. A box or rectangular culvert lends itself

more readily than other shapes to low allowable headwater situations since the height

may be decreased and the span increased to satisfy the location requirements.

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 The material selected for a culvert is dependent upon various

factors, such as durability, structural strength, roughness,

bedding condition, abrasion and corrosion resistance, and

water tightness. The more common culvert materials used are

concrete and steel (smooth and corrugated).

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 The pipes should be laid on a bed of concrete and, where
passing under a road, they should be surrounded with a
thickness of reinforced concrete of at least 150mm. The culvert
should also be reinforced longitudinally to resist bending due
to unequal vertical earth pressure or unequal settlement. Owing
to the uncertainty of the magnitude and disposition of pressures
on circular pipes embedded in the ground, accurate analysis of
the bending moments is impracticable.

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  
 A basic guide is that the positive bending moments at the top
and bottom of a circular pipe of diameter d and the negative
bending moments at the ends of a horizontal diameter are
where q is the intensity of downward pressure on the top and
of upward pressure on the bottom, assuming the pressures to
be distributed uniformly on a horizontal plane.

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 Design Criteria
 1. Alignment
Locating a culvert is to use the natural channel. If a canal crosses
a natural channel with a skew, it is better to locate the culvert on
a skew with the canal.

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 2. Profile
S1 should be much steeper than critical slope.

S2 is usually 0.005 to facilitate dissipation of energy by hydraulic jump in the pipe

without being flat enough to permit sedimentation in the pipe. The pipe should be
under
canal prism with at least 0.6m below the invert of an earth section canal, and at least
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 3. Conduit
 Culverts may be single or multi barreled and may consist of
the following types:
1. Precast reinforced concrete pressure pipe (PCP)
2. Precast reinforced concrete culvert pipe (RCCP)
3. Asbestos-cement pressure pipe (AC)
4. Reinforced plastic mortar pressure pipe (RPM)
5. Rectangular concrete box section.

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 4. Inlet
Several types of transitions are used as culvert inlets namely type
1 through type 4. The best choice for any particular situation is
dependent upon the hydraulics, the topographic character of the
site, and the relative elevations of the canal and drainage channel.

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 Outlet
 Outlet energy dissipators
Baffled outlet performs well in dissipating excess energy,
provided clogging by weeds or other debris can be avoided. The
culvert pipe should be sized on full pipe velocity of 3.6m/sec. the
theoretical velocity should not exceed 15m/sec.

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 6. Hydraulics
 a. Design capacity

Generally, for small irrigation structures, cross drainage are sized

on the basis of storm runoff for a 25-years flood frequency.
 b. Pipe velocity

The culvert should be designed for a maximum pipe velocity of

3m/sec if a concrete transition is used at outlet, and for a maximum
full pipe velocity of 3.6m/sec if an energy dissipator is used.

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 Loads on culverts
 The load on the top of a box or pipe culvert includes the
weights of the earth and the top slab and the imposed load (if
any).

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 The weights of the walls and top (and any load that is on
them) produce an upward reaction from the ground. The
weights of the bottom slab and the water in the culvert are
carried directly on the ground below the slab and thus do not
produce bending moments, although these weights must be
taken into account when calculating the maximum pressure on
the ground.

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 The horizontal pressure due to the water in the culvert produces an internal
triangular load or a trapezoidal load if the surface of the water outside the
culvert is above the top, when there will also be an upward pressure on the
underside of the top slab. The magnitude and distribution of the horizontal
pressure due to the earth against the sides of the culvert can be calculated in
accordance with the formulae given in Tables 16—20 of Reinforced Concrete
Designer’s Handbook by Reynolds and Steedman, 1999, consideration being
given to the possibility of the ground becoming waterlogged with consequent
increased pressures and the possibility of flotation.

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 Bending moments in box
culverts
 The bending moments can be calculated by considering the
possible incidence of the loads and pressures. Generally there
are only two conditions to consider: (1) culvert empty: full load
and surcharge on the top slab, the weight of the walls, and
maximum earth pressure on the walls; (2) culvert full: minimum
load on the top slab, minimum earth pressure on the walls,
weight of walls, maximum horizontal pressure from water in the
culvert, and possible upward pressure on the top slab.

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 The bending moments produced in monolithic rectangular
culverts may be determined by considering the four slabs as a
continuous beam of four spans with equal bending moments at
the end supports but, if the bending of the bottom slab tends to
produce a downward deflection, the compressibility of the
ground and the consequent effect on the bending moments
must be considered.

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 The loads on a box culvert can be conveniently divided as follows:

1. a uniformly distributed load on the top slab and an equal reaction from the ground below the bottom slab

2. a concentrated imposed load on the top slab and an equal reaction from the ground below the bottom slab

3. an upward pressure on the bottom slab due to the weight of the walls

4. a triangularly distributed horizontal pressure on each wall due to the increase in earth pressure in the

height of the culvert

5. a uniformly distributed horizontal pressure on each wall due to pressure from the earth and any surcharge

above the level of the roof of the culvert

6. the internal horizontal and vertical pressures from water in the culvert

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 Formulae for the bending moments at the corners due to these
various loads are given in Table 186 of Reinforced Concrete
Designer’s Handbook by Reynolds and Steedman, 1999, and
are applicable when the thicknesses of the top and bottom
slabs are about equal, but may be equal to or different from the
thicknesses of the walls. The limiting ground conditions
should be noted.

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 Classwork
 Calculate the moments at points A and C of the 3m X 3m Box
culvert shown below. The culvert is placed on a highly
compressible soil.

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 10kN
300 300
A B

300
210kNm-2 210kNm-2

3600
300
C D
3600

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 Solution
  

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  

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 Assignment
1. Calculate the moments at points A and C of the 3m X 3m box
culvert shown below. The culvert is placed on a non
compressible soil.

10kN
300 300
A B

300
210kNm-2 210kNm-2

3600
300
C D
3600

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1. Calculate the bending moment at the top of the circular
culvert shown below.

210kNm

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