WILLIAM CARREY UNIVERSITY

ASSESSMENT

SUBMITTED BY
ENROLLMENT NO: A2ETW07564306045

NAME: ANSHUMAN PRADHAN

CODE: DCE 302
CLASS: 2ST YEAR 3RD SEM
SUB – CULVART AND ITS TYPES

TOPIC
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DEFINE THE USE OF CULVART
BRIDGES. AND IT TYPES

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A culvert is a tunnel that carries a stream
beneath a road or railway. A culvert can serve as
a bridge for transportation to cross. They are
often found in natural water flows and function
as a bridge or a current flow controller. Because
road embankments cannot be allowed to block
water movement, culverts are installed beneath
roadways and highways.

CULVERTS
A culvert is a tunnel structure built
beneath roadways or railways to
enable cross drainage or to transport
electrical or other cables from one
side to the other. It is completely
enclosed by earth or ground. The
most frequent varieties used under
roadways and trains are pipe
culverts, box culverts, and arch
culverts. The hydraulic loads, water
surface elevation, roadway height,
and other parameters are used to
build the culvert. They are used to
control the flow of water. Culverts
are underground structures that are
similar to bridges consisting of single

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or multi span with a minimum length
of 3 m for each span. With a
maximum span of 6 m, two
horizontal slabs are cast
monolithically with two or more
vertical side walls. Culverts carry
stormwater or non-perennial streams
across roadways with thin soil. They
are ideal for challenging site
circumstances, need little
maintenance, and have a long
service life.

Culverts that are too small or

improperly built might disrupt the
natural flow of water upstream.
Culvert failures can occur for a
variety of reasons including:-
o Maintenance, environmental and
installation failures
o Functional or process failures
related to capacity and volume
causing soil erosion around or
beneath them.

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 o Structural or material failures
causing culverts to fail due to
collapse or corrosion of the
materials from which they are
made.

CULVERT TYPES
 Pipe culverts
They are rounded culverts that are widely
used. Pipe Culverts can be single or multiple
in number. When using a single pipe culvert,
a larger diameter culvert is installed. If the
channel width is greater, we will use
multiple pipe culverts. They are well suited
to larger flows. Pipe culverts have diameters
ranging from 1 meter to 6 meter. These are
made of concrete, steel, and other
materials.

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Advantages of Pipe Culvert
The main features of pipe culverts are:
 It can be constructed of any desired
strength by proper mix design,
thickness, and reinforcement.
 They are economical.
 These pipes can withhold any tensile
stresses and compressive stresses.
 The crossing of water is under the
structure.
Disadvantages of Pipe Culvert
The main disadvantage of pipe culvert is
that it can be easily corroded at the crown
because of bacteria‘s organic matter and
release of harmful gas, which is known as
Crown corrosion.

 Pipe arch culvert

Pipe arch culverts mean nothing, but
they resemble half circle culverts.
Pipe arch culverts can handle higher
water flows, but the flow must be

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stable. Fishes or sewage in the
drainage are easily carried to the
outlet due to the arch shape, as
there is no stocking at the inlet or
bottom of the channel. This type of
culvert can also be supplied in a
variety of sizes depending on the
need. They also contribute to a
beautiful appearance.

Advantages of Pipe-Arch Culvert

The features of pipe arch culverts are:
 Limited headroom condition

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  Improved hydraulic capacity at a low
flow
 Aesthetic shape and appearance
 Lightweight
 Easy to install

 BOX CULVERTS
Box culverts are rectangular in shape
and are typically made of concrete. The
box culvert design also includes
reinforcement. These are used to get rid
of rainwater. As a result, they are
ineffective during the dry season. They
can also be used as passageways for
animals to cross the rail or roadway
during dry periods. Because of the sharp
corners, these are not suitable for higher
velocities. Box culverts are also available
in a variety of sizes.

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Advantages of Box Culvert
Box Culverts are economical for the
reasons mentioned below:
 The box culvert is a rigid frame
structure and very simple in
construction
 It is Suitable for non-perennial
streams where scrub depth is not
significant but the soil is weak.
 The bottom slab of the box culvert
reduces pressure on the soil.
 Box culverts are economical due to
their rigidity and monolithic action and
separate foundations are not required.

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  It is used in special cases, weak
foundation.

 Arch culverts
They are similar to pipe arch culverts,
but an artificial floor is provided
beneath the arch in this case. It is
commonly used in narrow passages.
The artificial floor is constructed of
concrete, as is the arch. Steel arch
culverts are also available, but they
are quite costly.

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Advantages of Arch Culvert
The advantages of using arch culverts
over traditional box culverts and pipe
culverts are as follows:
 Cost savings
 Accelerated construction schedule
 Greater hydraulic efficiency
 Pleasing aesthetics
 Design-build advantage

 Bridge culverts
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They are provided on canals or rivers
and are also used as vehicle road
bridges. A foundation is laid beneath
the ground surface for these
culverts. A series of culverts is laid,
and then a pavement surface is laid
on top of the culverts. These are
generally rectangular shaped
culverts that can be used in place of
box culverts if an artificial floor is not
needed.

Advantages of Bridge Culvert

Following are the main features of bridge
culvert:

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  Extension of the network by acting as
a repeater
 Very strong
 Allows traffic to pass on it
 Highly strong foundation
 Most expensive river crossings

 Metal box culvert

The metal box culvert is the
economic alternative of the
bridge. These bridges are
manufactured from a standard
structural plate or deep-
corrugated structural plate.
They are the perfect bridge
replacement maintaining the
same road grade level.

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Advantages of Metal Box Culvert
The advantages are as follows:
 Durability
 Shorter construction period and easy
installation
 Deformation ability
 Long service life

HYDRAULIC PUMPS AND ITS

OPERATING PRINCIPLES

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Hydraulic pumps take energy from a source,
usually an electric motor or combustion
engine, and turn it into a usable force to
complete work.

Hydraulics pumps have the

capability of creating tremendous
forces in order to perform heavy
lifting, create clamping forces, bend
objects, or myriad tasks that require
a big mechanical advantage.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
HYDRAULICS AND
PNEUMATICS
Hydraulics and pneumatics function
in a similar manner in that
mechanical energy is transferred to
a medium, oil or air, by a pump or
compressor.

Since air is compressible, it acts like

a spring and can store potential
energy after the compressor has
been shut off, leading to different
safety concerns than hydraulics

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which store little potential energy if
the pump is de-energized and any
loads are removed from the
actuator.
Essentially, a hydraulic pump moves
a certain amount of fluid per stroke
or revolution regardless of the
amount of pressure in the system,
resulting in the potential for
extremely high PSI ratings. A
pneumatic compressor works under
a similar principle, but the
compressibility of the air means that
each stroke produces a variable
amount of output. The higher the
existing pressure in the pneumatic
line, the smaller the volume of air
moved per revolution or stroke. This
relationship means that
pneumatics can’t reach high PSI
ratings without large amounts of
waste energy through heat, so they
normally operate at far lower
pressures than hydraulic systems.

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 Since pneumatics are compressible,
they act more like a spring and
energy is less efficiently transferred
due to losses from the compression
of the air and heat in the system.
Hydraulics have the potential to be
much stronger than pneumatics and
can be used to move heavier things,
this comes at a price though, and
hydraulics are generally much slower
moving than pneumatics since air
has a higher flow rate.

TYPES OF HYDRAULIC
PUMPS
VANE PUMPS
Vane pumps consist of a series of
vanes that ride in slots cut into a
rotor inside of an eccentricly shaped
cam ring. The hydraulic fluid flows
through the pump, just like water
through a paddlewheel where the
paddles (vanes) change in length as

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they move around the eccentric
chamber. Sometimes, instead of rigid
vanes with changing length, the
pump uses rubber vanes which bend
along the eccentric portion of the
chamber, as shown. Vane pumps
create a constant unvarying flow
rate which can be a bonus in some
applications. They are also self-
priming and often feature a pressure
relief valve to prevent pump damage
in the event that an overpressure
event occurs. Vane pumps are
subject to high rates of wear and
may become easily damaged in
scenarios where the hydraulic fluid is
easily contaminated. They are often
rated to produce pressure up to
3,000 PSI.

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Vane pumps create a constant
unvarying flow rate which can be a
bonus in some applications. They are
also self-priming and often feature a
pressure relief valve to prevent
pump damage in the event that an
overpressure event occurs. Vane
pumps are subject to high rates of
wear and may become easily
damaged in scenarios where the
hydraulic fluid is easily
contaminated. They are often rated
to produce pressure up to 3,000 PSI.

GEAR PUMPS
Gear pumps are commonly found in many
different applications and work by pushing
hydraulic fluid through two gears. Gear
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pumps can be categorized as either
internal or external gear pumps.
External gear pumps consist of two gears
spinning in opposite directions, the gears
are meshed in the center of the pump
stopping backflow. As the gears spin, fluid
is carried around the outside of the gears
from the inlet to the outlet.
Internal gear pumps consist of two gears,
a larger gear that meshes with a smaller
gear inside of it. The gears are offset from
the center meaning only one side is
meshed and the other side contains open
space for the fluid to be carried across
from the inlet to the outlet as the gears
spin.

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A variation of the gear pump is the rotary
lobe pump which operated using the same
basic principle, but employs a set of lobed
rotors instead of gears, reducing the
friction and wear of the components,
increasing the service life.
Gear pumps are efficient and carry a
consistent amount of fluid per revolution.
They are also resilient and can be used in
applications where hydraulic

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contamination is a concern. They are
commonly able to operate at pressures of
3,000-3,500 PSI.

PISTON PUMPS
Piston Pumps

Piston pumps are a strong, low-noise

type of hydraulic pump. They are
capable of producing pressures of
6,000 PSI or more, making them
ideal for high pressure applications.
They consist of several pistons in a
ring of cylinders that rotates around
a shaft. The shaft contains a plate on
an angle (called a ‘swash plate’) that
determines the stroke of the pistons.
As the shaft rotates and the pistons
ride on the inclined plate moving in
and out of their cylinder. They
alternate from creating a vacuum on
the inlet side by increasing the
volume of the cylinder for half the

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cycle to then decreasing the volume
of the cylinder as the piston moves
in the opposite direction toward the
outlet thus creating pressure.

Peristaltic Pumps
In cases where the liquid must
remain inside the pipe or tube to
eliminate contamination (like
medical or food & bev applications),
there are a limited number of
options. For smaller flow rates, lobes
compress the flexible wall of the
tube while rotating, squeezing the
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fluid through the tube and
generating pressure and fluid flow.

Centrifugal Pumps
In many fluid motion systems with
large volumetric output (including
water delivery systems), the
rotational energy is transferred to
vanes inside a chamber. These
vanes make up the 'impeller', forcing
the fluid to the outside of the

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chamber, exiting through the outlet
on the side. The rotational transfer of
energy is similar to the operation of
a centrifuge device, so these pumps
are given the label of centrifugal
pumps.
Due to the motion of the liquid in the
impeller chamber, the flow is very
rough, leading to problems of
cavitation and wear on the impeller
blades, reducing the lifespan of the
pump. Additionally, since the motion
of the impeller blades creates a
suction force on the inlet in order to
provide positive pressure on the
outlet, the pump must be filled with
liquid in order to begin providing
pressure. This process is known as
'priming' the pump.

Hydraulic Pump Power

Options
Hydraulic pumps can be powered in
different ways and many use internal
combustion engines to power them,
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especially in the case of heavy
equipment, farm machinery, or
mining equipment. Combustion
based power is advantageous in
scenarios where electrical power is
not readily available in remote
locations.
Pumps can also be powered by
electric motors for stationary
applications such as those in the
robotics industry or other industrial
processes where electrical power is
readily available.
Lastly, hydraulic pumps can be
powered through the use of
pneumatics. This gives a unique
combination that allows for
pneumatic systems to increase their
lifting power by transferring their
energy directly into a hydraulic
system. Pneumatic to hydraulic
systems can give pressure ratios up
to 400:1 greatly increasing the lifting
power of the pneumatic system. The
type of power plant used to drive the

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pump is highly dependent on the
specific circumstances of each
application.

HYDRAULIC TURBINES
Hydraulic turbines are
remarkable machines that
harness the power of moving
water to generate electricity or
perform mechanical work.
These devices are specifically
designed to convert the kinetic
energy of flowing or falling
water into rotational
mechanical energy, which can
be further utilised to drive
generators or other
equipment. Hydraulic turbines
play a significant role in
developing hydroelectric
power generation, providing a

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sustainable and renewable
energy source for countless
communities worldwide.

Hydraulic machines are the

devices employed to convert
hydraulic energy into
mechanical energy or vice
versa. Conversely, centrifugal
pumps are hydraulic machines
designed to convert
mechanical energy into
hydraulic energy. Thus,
hydraulic turbines play a vital
role in converting mechanical
energy into hydraulic energy,
while pumps perform the
opposite function.

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A typical hydroelectric power
plant comprises the following
components:
o To harness the power of
water, dams are built across
rivers or channels to create
reservoirs, also known as the
head race.
o The water stored in these
reservoirs is then conveyed
under pressure through large-
diameter pipes called
penstocks.
o Penstocks transport the water
to the turbines, typically
constructed from steel or
reinforced concrete.
o The turbines feature various
types of vanes, buckets, or
blades mounted on a wheel
called a runner. As the water
flows through the turbines and
imparts its energy, a channel

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 known as the tail race carries
the water away from the
turbine.
o The water surface in the tail
race is commonly referred to
as the tail race itself.
Classification of
Hydraulic Turbines
Hydraulic turbines are
classified based on several
criteria, including:
o Direction of flow of
water: This classification
considers whether the water
flows radially inward or outward
in relation to the turbine.
o Available head: The available
head refers to the potential
energy of the water, which is
determined by the height
difference between the water
source and the turbine. Turbines
can be classified based on low-

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 head, medium-head, or high-
head conditions.
o Specific speed: Specific speed
is a parameter that relates the
rotational speed of the turbine to
its geometric characteristics. It
helps determine the design and
performance characteristics of
the turbine.
o Action of water: Turbines can
be categorised as either impulse
turbines or reaction turbines
based on how water interacts
with the turbine blades. In
impulse turbines, the water jet
impacts the blades and then
discharges, while in reaction
turbines, the water pressure
decreases as it passes through
the blades.

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Classification of
Turbine based on
the direction of
flow of water
o Tangential Flow:
o Turbines that experience
water striking the blades
tangentially to their path
of rotation are referred to
as tangential flow
turbines. One prominent
example of such a turbine
is the Pelton wheel. In a
tangential flow
configuration, the water
jet is carefully directed to
maximise its tangential
velocity component,
allowing for efficient
energy conversion as the
turbine blades rotate.

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Radial Flow:
Turbines characterised by water
striking the blades radially and
exiting in an axial direction are
known as radial flow turbines. A
notable example of a radial flow
turbine is the Francis turbine. In a
radial flow configuration, the water
enters the turbine in a radial
direction, meaning perpendicular to
the axis of rotation, and leaves the
turbine in an axial direction parallel
to the axis. This design allows for
effective energy conversion as the
turbine efficiently harnesses the
kinetic energy of the water flow.

Axial Flow:
In the axial flow configuration, the
water flows parallel to the axis of the
turbine. An excellent example of an
axial flow turbine is the Kaplan
turbine. In this design, the water
enters the turbine in a direction
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parallel to the axis of rotation and
flows through the turbine blades in
the same axial direction. This
arrangement enables efficient
energy conversion as the turbine
effectively captures the kinetic
energy of the water flow. The axial
flow turbines, like the Kaplan
turbine, are particularly well-suited
for sites with low head and high flow
rate conditions.

Classification of Turbine
based on Available head
High head:
These turbines are specifically
designed to operate efficiently
under high potential head
conditions, typically above 300
meters. These turbines are well-
suited for harnessing the
immense energy available in
such high-head water sources.
The Pelton wheel turbine, for

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instance, excels in these
scenarios, utilising carefully
positioned buckets or vanes to
extract the maximum energy
from the high-speed water jets
produced by the high head. With
their robust construction and
ability to handle significant water
pressure, Pelton wheel turbines
are a prime choice for generating
electricity in hydropower plants
situated in areas with a
substantial vertical drop and high
potential head.
Medium head:
Turbines designed for operation
within a medium range of
potential head typically range
from 60 meters to 300 meters.
These turbines are optimised to
harness the available energy
within this specific head range
efficiently. With their versatile
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design, they can effectively
convert the potential energy of
the water into useful mechanical
energy or electricity. Turbines
such as the Francis turbine and
certain types of Kaplan turbines
are commonly employed in this
medium head range,
demonstrating their ability to
handle the varying hydraulic
conditions and provide reliable
power generation in hydroelectric
plants operating in these
environments.
Low head:
Turbines specifically engineered
to operate under a low range of
potential head, typically less than
60 meters, are highly efficient in
harnessing energy from such
conditions. These turbines are
designed to maximise power
generation in environments with
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relatively small vertical drops. By
effectively utilising the available
water pressure and flow, they
convert the potential energy of
the water into mechanical energy
or electricity. Turbines like the
Kaplan turbine, propeller turbine,
or cross-flow turbine are
commonly employed in this low-
head range, ensuring optimal
performance and sustainable
power generation in hydroelectric
plants situated in these low-head
water sources.
Classification of Turbine
based on Specific speed:
Low Specific Speed:
Turbines operating within the range of
10 to 50 are specifically designed to
function effectively within this particular
range. These turbines are optimised to
convert the available energy within this
range into useful mechanical energy or

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electricity. Examples of turbines
commonly employed in this range
include small-scale Francis turbines or
micro-hydro turbines. With their compact
size and efficient design, these turbines
are ideal for generating power in small-
scale hydroelectric systems or low-head
water sources. Their ability to harness
energy within the 10 to 50 range makes
them well-suited for decentralised or off-
grid power generation applications. For
eg: Pelton wheel Turbine.
Medium Specific Speed:
Turbines operating within the range of
50 to 350 are specifically designed to
efficiently utilise the potential energy
available in this range. These turbines
are engineered to convert the kinetic
energy of the water into mechanical
energy or electricity effectively.
Examples of turbines commonly
employed in this range include Francis
turbines, Kaplan turbines, and Pelton
wheel turbines. With their robust
construction and versatile design, these
turbines are capable of handling varying
hydraulic conditions and delivering
reliable power generation in medium to

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high-head water sources. Their
adaptability within the 50 to 350 range
makes them well-suited for various
hydroelectric power plant applications.
Eg. Francis Turbine.

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THANK YOU…

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