CULVERTS

Introduction
Culverts are commonly used both as crossdrains for ditch relief and to pass water
under a road at a natural drainage and
stream crossings. In either case, they need
to be properly sized and installed, and
protected from erosion and scour.
Designed culverts need to have sizes large
enough to pass the expected flow plus
extra capacity to pass debris without
clogging.

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Introduction
Discharge (design flow) of a culvert will
depend on the:
Watershed drainage area
Runoff characteristics
design rainfall intensity
return period(frequency) of the design
storm.
The general purpose of a culvert is to
transmit water flowing in natural streams or
collected on the high side of the right-of-way
from one side of the road to the other.
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A Culvert
B Headwall
C Wingwall
D Apron
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Common Culvert Sizes

The capacity is the most important deciding
factor whichever is locally available and can
be obtained at lower prices.
In Ghana pipe culvert sizes usually available
for roads are 900mm, 1200mm & 1800mm.
A size 600mm can however be used
where maintenance is not likely to be a
problem.
Minimum allowable size is 900mm for reasons
of maintenance.
For box culverts the minimum allowable is
1000mm x 1000mm.
Also available in Ghana is 2000mm x131200mm

Field Investigations
For the purpose of analysis, culverts along a
road may be classified into two groups
major and minor culverts.
Major Culverts: All culverts whose total
waterway cross-sectional areas are greater
than 5m2 or whose total widths/span are 4m
and above are classified as major culverts.
Minor Culverts: All culverts with spans less
than 4m or total flow area less than 5m2 are
classified as minor culverts.
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Field Investigations
Generally, inventory of existing structures
will be taken. This will usually consist of the
types of cross drains bridges/culverts and
longitudinal.
Type of cross drain
1. Span of cross drain
2. Size of drain. Adequate? Or increase?
3. Material of longitudinal drain lined or
unlined
4. Structural competence
5. Hydraulic competence
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6. Kind of maintenance required

Field Investigations
Where an existing culvert is structurally
competent and can perform efficiently for
the design life of the project, it is
recommended that it be desilted, repaired,
extended, etc. if found necessary. However,
where an existing culvert is found to be
structurally
inadequate,
they
are
constructed to not less than the dimensions
and capacities of those they replace.
Pipe culverts less than 900mm diameter are
replaced or supplemented with 900mm
diameter culverts to meet the MRT/GHA
current requirements for the minimum
size
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Design criteria for culverts

Specifications approved by the
Ghana Highway Authority are used
for the design of culverts. The return
periods for the estimation of the
design discharges through culverts
are taken as follows.
Highway System
Return Period
International

50 years

Regional

25 years

Local

5 10 years
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Design criteria for culverts

Spanof Culvert

Return Period

0.9 4.0 (minor culverts) 10 years

4 10m

25 years

10m and above

50 years

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Culvert Design Sizing of Culverts

The purpose of hydraulic design of culverts is to
provide a drainage facility or system that will
adequately and economically drain away the
estimated flow throughout the design life without
unreasonable risks to the roadway structure or
nearby property.
A Secondary objective is the prevention of scouring
at the culvert outlet.

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Culvert Design Sizing of Culverts

Whenever a constriction such as a culvert is placed in
a natural (open channel) stream, there is an increase
in the depth of water just upstream of the constriction.
The allowable level of the headwater upstream of the
culvert entrance is generally the principal control on
the culvert size and inlet geometry. The allowable
headwater depth depends on the topography and the
nature of land use in the culvert vicinity.
In establishing the allowable headwater depth,
consideration should be given to the possible harmful
effects that flooding may cause, such as damages to
the pavement, interruptions to traffic, and inundation
of nearby property.
From experiments it is known that culvert 20
hydraulics

What is the difference between

Bridge and Culvert?

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Inlet Control
Occurs when the culvert barrel can
convey more flow than the inlet will
accept. The flow is only affected by
headwater level, inlet area, inlet edge
configuration, and inlet shape. Factors
such as roughness of the culvert barrel,
length of the culvert, slope and
tailwater level have no effect on the
flow when a culvert is under inlet
control.

CE154

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Outlet Control
Occurs when the culvert barrel can not convey
more flow than the inlet can accept. The flow is a
function of the headwater elevation, inlet area,
inlet edge configuration, inlet shape, barrel
roughness, barrel shape and area, slope, and
tailwater level.

CE154

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Inlet Control in design

Most often inlet conditions exist therefore
most designs are based on inlet flow control.
Nomographs are available for the design of
inlets control when the slope of the culvert is
steep and the outlet is not submerged.
Under inlet control, the discharge capacity of a
culvert depends primarily on the depth of
headwater at the entrance and the size and
entrance geometry (barrel shape, crosssectional area, and type of inlet edge).
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Design Considerations
minimizing channel modifications;
avoiding constriction of the bankfull flow
channel width;
maintaining the natural grade and
alignment
using quality, well compacted bedding and
backfill material
using inlet, outlet, and stream bank
protection measures
Trash racks are often desirable in channels
with significant amounts of debris to
prevent pipe plugging
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Design Considerations

Normal metal culvert

installation using riprap
around the inlet and outlet of
culverts

Concrete box culvert with concrete wing

walls for inlet/outlet protection and fill
retention.

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Design Considerations
Flared ends improve efficiency
Use culverts as wide as stream width
Use same gradient as stream channel
Use same alignment as stream channel
Single large culvert is better for debris
passage than several small ones
Area Reduction Factor for areas >2km2 the
area should be multiplied by Cr.\

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Design Considerations
Use single large pipes or a concrete box in
favor of multiple smaller diameter pipes to
minimize plugging potential in most
channels (unless roadway elevation is
critical). In very broad channels, multiple
pipes are desirable to maintain the natural
flow spread.
Align culverts in the bottom and middle of
the natural channel so that installation
causes no change in the stream channel
alignment or stream bottom elevation.
Culverts should not cause damming or
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pooling or increase stream velocities

Design Considerations

Poor Single pipe

concentrates flow
in the broad
channel or
floodplain.

Better Multiple pipes

disperse the flow across
the channel. Middle
pipe may be slightly
lower to pass the
normal low flow and to
promote fish 29
passage.

Design Considerations

Poor

Best

Adequat
e

Make road crossings of

natural drainages
perpendicular to the
drainage to minimize
pipe length and area of
disturbance 30

Design Considerations
At culvert outlets where pipe velocities are
accelerated, protect the channel with either
a plunge pool (on gentle slopes), rock
armoring (riprap) or with a splash apron
with a rough or rock inset surface and cutoff
key.

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Design Considerations
Avoid culvert outlets in the middle of a fill
slope. Use culverts long enough to extend
to the toe of the slope, or use headwall
structures to retain the fill material and
minimize the pipe length.

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Design Discharge
This is calculated using the Rational method.
Q = CIA/3.6 = 0.278CIA
Q = design discharge (m3/s)
C = Runoff coefficient
I = Rainfall intensity for the given return period
(mm/h)
A = Catchment area (km2)

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Catchment Areas
Catchment areas used in the Rational
method are mapped out from
topographic sheets obtained from the
Survey Department of Ghana (1:10,000
50,000).
The areas are calculated using a
planimeter; and the slope for each
catchment area is also determined from
the topographical sheets profiles, GIS,
etc.
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Typical I-D-F equations for Kumasi

and Wenchi
For Kumasi

I10

140
=
TC 0.7

I 25

165
=
TC 0.7

I 25

116
=
TC 0.44

For Wenchi

I10

96
=
TC 0.44

I in (mm/hr) and Tc in hrs is given by

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Time of Concentration

58.5L
Tc = 0.1 0.2
A S
Tc = Time of concentration (min)
L = Catchment length (km)
A = Catchment Area (km2)
S = Catchment slope (m/km)

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Nomograph Design
In built up areas Hw/D = 0.8 1.0, this is to
avoid any ponding leading to overflow
For Feeder roads, the rule of thumb is usually
Hw/D = 1.2
Select a suitable D, select suitable Hw/D for
the area under design.
For example D = 900mm, Hw/D = 0.8
Q=0.68m3/s from Chart
Draw a line between D and Hw/D. The
intersection is the value of Q
If Q graph > Q rational then the dimensions
are acceptable
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Nomograph Design
Different charts are available for box and pipe
culverts.
The charts are also based on the type of
material used and the design of the entry
If multiple barrels are to be used there are
specific charts available for that too.

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