CTC 261

Culvert Basics

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Objectives
Students should have the ability to:
 Describe the different materials used for
culverts
 Describe the two types of hydraulic control

 Determine the headwater depth for inlet

control

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Hydraulic Design of Highway Culverts
 USDOT/FHWA
 HDS 5 (highway design series #5)
 PDF available at:
http://isddc.dot.gov/OLPFiles/FHWA/012545.pdf

 Most of the images in this powerpoint

presentation were taken from HDS 5

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Culvert
 Hydraulically short conduit which conveys
stream flow through a roadway embankment
or past some other type of flow obstruction

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Culvert Design
 Conduit placed under a road to carry water
from one side to the other
 Designed to pass a design flow w/o
overtopping the road

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Culvert Flow
 Complex
 Pressure flow
 Open channel flow
 Combination
 Variables
 Slope
 Pipe Diameter, Length and Roughness
 Entrance Design
 Exit Design
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Culvert Shapes

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Culvert Materials

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Culvert Materials-other
 Corrugated Aluminum
 Plastic
 Polyethylene
 Polyvinylchloride (PVC)
 Stone

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Inlet Types

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Culvert Hydraulics
 Complete theoretical analysis is
difficult
 Flow conditions vary from culvert
to culvert
 Flow conditions vary over time
 May flow full or partly full
 Flow control-inlet or outlet
 HDS approach is to analyze
culvert for both types of flow
control and design for minimum
performance

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Flow Conditions
 Full Flow (pressure) – rare
 Party Full (free surface) Flow
 Subcritical
 Critical
 Supercritical
 Evaluate flow regime via Froude #
 Fr<1 Subcritical – Smooth flow, tranquil, low velocities
 Fr=1 Critical Flow (point of minimum specific energy)
 Fr>1 Supercritical – Swift, rapid, high velocities
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Headwater (HW)
 Depth of upstream water surface measured
from invert of culvert entrance
 Should not exceed edge of shoulder elevation
(account for freeboard)
 Should not be so high as to cause flooding
problems

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Headwater (HWo)
 Depth of upstream water surface measured
from invert of culvert outlet

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Tailwater (TW)
 Depth of downstream water surface measured
from invert of culvert outlet
 Usually determined by backwater calculations
 Sometimes determined by normal depth
calculations

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Outlet Velocity
 Outlet velocities are
usually higher than in
natural channel
(constriction)
 High velocities can cause
streambed scour and bank
erosion

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Performance Curves
 Plot of HW depth or elev.
 versus flow rate
 Inlet control curves
 Outlet control curves

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Economics
 Risks
 Decrease w/ larger culvert
 Costs
 Increase w/ larger culvert

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Inlet Control
 Inlet controls (or limits) the flow
 Harder for flow to get through the entrance of
the culvert than it is to flow through the
remainder of the culvert

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Inlet Control –A
Barrel flow is partly full and supercritical (below critical depth)
Critical depth occurs just d/s of culvert entrance
Flow approaches normal depth @ outlet end

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Inlet Control –B
Flow d/s of inlet is supercritical (below critical depth)
Hydraulic jump occurs in the barrel
Note that submergence of outlet does not assure outlet control

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Inlet Control –C
Barrel flow is partly full and supercritical (below critical depth)
Critical depth occurs just d/s of culvert entrance
Flow approaches normal depth @ outlet end

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Inlet Control –D (rare)
Median drain provides ventilation/stable conditions
Hydraulic jump occurs in the barrel
Note that full-flow doesn’t occur even though inlet/outlet are submerged

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Increasing inlet performance
Beveled edges at entrance

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Increasing inlet performance
Square Edges/Curved Edges

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Fall-Depressing the culvert entrance
below the natural stream bed

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Tapered Entrances

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Outlet Control
 Outlet controls (or limits) the flow
 Harder for flow to negotiate length of culvert
than it is to get through the inlet (entrance)

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Outlet Control –A (rare)
Pressure Flow
Full Flow
Most culverts don’t operate this way
Inlet/Outlet Submerged

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Outlet Control –B
Full Flow
Inlet not fully submerged

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Outlet Control –C
Submerged inlet / unsubmerged outlet
Requires high HW
Outlet velocities usually high

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Outlet Control –D (Typical)
Inlet submerged
Outlet unsubmerged
Critical depth occurs just u/s of outlet
Low TW

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Outlet Control –E (typical)
Flow is subcritical (laminar)
Inlet and outlet are unsubmerged

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Break

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Data Requirements-Hydrology
 Peak Flow  Stream gage/regression/rational
method/TR-55
 Check Flow  Same as above

 Hydrograph  Stream gage/ synthetic methods

 Storage routing

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Data Requirements
Site Data
 Culvert Location  Maps

 Waterway Data  Field Surveys

 Cross Sections
 Long. Slope
 Resistance

 Roadway Data
 Cross Section
 Roadway Plans
 Profile
 Culvert Length

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Data Requirements
Design Headwater

Critical pts Roadway plans

Surrounding bldgs Maps/plans/photos
Regulatory Floodplain/flood insurance
Constraints regs
Arbitrary Constraints State or local regs

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Inlet
Hydraulics
 Entrance Unsubmerged
(weir)
 Entrance Submerged
(orifice)
 Transition (in between;
poorly defined)

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Hydraulics-Energy Equation (EGL)
 HW and TW depths and elevations
 Velocity head (u/s & d/s)
 Head losses
 Friction loss through the barrel
 Entrance/Exit losses
 Bend/Junction/Grate losses

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Definitions: Head (Friction) Losses
 He-entrance loss
 Hf-friction loss through the barrel
 Ho-exit loss

 Other potential losses due to bends, junctions and

grates

 Summarize the losses to calculate the total energy

required to “push” water through the barrel
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Definitions: Velocity
 Vu-channel velocity upstream of the culvert
 V-velocity through culvert barrel
 Vd-channel velocity downstream of the
culvert

 Vu/Vd are often assumed to be minimal and

left out of the equations

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Roadway Overtopping

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Roadway Topping
 Water flows through the culvert
 Water also flows over the road – model as a
broad crested weir
 Topping usually occurs on sag curve
 Represent sag w/ a single horizontal line
 Represent sag w/ a series of lines

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Culvert Design Form
 Page 344 of HDS-5

 Calculate HW elev based on inlet/outlet

control

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Culvert Design Steps
1. Summarize all known data
2. Select a preliminary culvert material, shape,
size and entrance type
3. Perform inlet control calculations
4. Perform outlet control calculations
5. If HW elevation is too high, then go back to
step 2

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Inlet Control
 First step is to determine HW/D from charts
 Chart 1B (Concrete Pipe-English)
 Chart 2B (Corrugated Metal Pipe-English)
 Chart 3B (Circular Pipe-Beveled Ring)
 Chart 8B (Box Culverts) –D is box culvert Ht
 Multiply by Diameter or Box Culvert Height
to get HW

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Dia=42” (3.5)
Q=120 cfs

1. Square edge with

headwall
• HW/D=2.5
• HW=8.8’
2. Groove end with
headwall
• HW/D=2.1
• HW=7.4’
3. Groove end projecting
• HW/D=2.2
• HW=7.7’
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Next Lecture
 Culvert Design Form
 Calculate HW based on outlet control

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