Highway Culvert Fitting

A Manual for the Site Supervisory Staff

DataBASE Solutions

Patrick Kariuki
Structural Engineer

DataBASE Solutions
Universal Culvert Fitting System 2004 Patrick Kariuki

PREFACE

This document presents guidance on the various steps involved in correctly fitting a
culvert on a highway to produce a Best Fit Culvert. A Best Fit culvert can be
considered as one whose ends most closely conform to embankment slopes thereby
enhancing the appearance of the highway. In a way a Best Fit culvert is not only
aesthetically appealing but also most efficient in the conveyance of surface runoff across
the road and economical.
While emphasis has been put on the application of the spreadsheet program Universal
Culvert Design V8 in line with the computer-led paperless revolution, many principles
illustrated are applicable irrespective of the plotting method used including the traditional
manual plotting on a graph paper. Automation could be achieved by use of any
spreadsheet, database or CAD program.
Although the push for the 'paperless office' should not ignore the way that people actually
work and their attachment to the hard-copy medium because of its familiarity, portability,
flexibility and lack of machine dependence, manual plotting is often slow, tedious and
prone to errors. These shortcomings could lead to culvert lengths that are too short or too
long or with incorrect invert levels being read off the graph paper plot.
The errors may produce structures that are an eyesore or hydraulically inefficient. If the
culvert is too long the extra cost is a waste of finances. The situation is even worse if the
culvert is constructed at inappropriate inverts as it may simply be unworkable or
inefficient and it might be necessary to remove the culvert all together. If the culverts
sticks out too much into the pavement it might be necessary to revise the vertical
alignment of the road, but this is often uneconomical.
The program Universal Culvert Design V8 essentially simulates the manual
procedure. It is a fully parametric program that can be used to fit up any type of a culvert
whether concrete pipes, box culverts, metal pipe culverts or metal arch culverts within
minutes if not seconds.
Often most construction data for culverts is worked out at design stage but the
orientation, lengths and inverts are normally shown as INDICATIVE. These are normally
confirmed on site on the basis of a topography survey taken at the confirmed locations of
the culverts.

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So what benefits does the software solution offer?

It is accurate and reliable as long as correct data is entered, leading to structures

that fit perfectly with the embankment slopes. The program logic has been tested
for all possible combinations of flow directions, skew angles, pavement gradients,
cross-falls etc.
Efficient. As long as all survey data required is available many culverts can be
plotted in a day. It thus enables the engineer to come up with the most efficient
and economical culverts within a short time and thus ensure timely instruction to
the contractor.
It is an excellent way to perform quick estimates of culvert lengths. In fact data
for all the culverts can be put into a simple database which can be shared over a
network by the engineers, surveyors etc and thus reduce the paperwork in todays
near-paperless office.
Engineers can be free to concentrate on supervision or to support junior staff and
not be tied by too much office work on site.
Cost of archiving of paperwork is reduced. Consequently, staff time spent in filing
and retrieving of information is reduced and the ability to produce the right record
at the right time in line with the organisations interests and obligations is
enhanced.

Suffice is to say that, like most other professionals have done, engineers working on site
are expected to harness the power of Information and Communication Technology (ICT).
For that is where the future lies.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The author gratefully acknowledges the

invaluable contributions made by Engineer

RM SAA, BSc, R Eng towards the

development of the software. Since the day
I decided to try fitting culverts on
computer, I have been greatly influenced
by his well-considered methodologies
towards the realisation of this dream.
Without his hands-on trials and earnest
criticism during the entire development
period it may not have been possible to
come up with a truly universal solution to
culvert plotting.

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DISCLAIMER

THIS DOCUMENT DOES NOT PURPORT TO DESCRIBE FULLY

ALL THE PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN OF CULVERTS NOR IS IT
INTENDED

TO

BE

SUBSTITUTE

TO

ANY

OTHER

CONTRACTUAL DOCUMENT.

THE MATERIAL HAS BEEN PREPARED IN ACCORDANCE WITH

GENERALLY RECOGNISED ENGINEERING PRINCIPLES AND
PRACTICES AND IS FOR GENERAL INFORMATION ONLY. THIS
INFORMATION SHOULD NOT BE USED WITHOUT FIRST
SECURING COMPETENT ADVICE WITH RESPECT TO ITS
SUITABILITY FOR ANY GENERAL OR SPECIFIC APPLICATION.

ALTHOUGH CARE HAS BEEN TAKEN TO ENSURE THAT ALL

INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN IS ACCURATE WITH
RELATION TO EITHER MATERS OF FACT OR ACCEPTED
PRACTICE AT THE TIME, THE AUTHOR ASSUMES NO
RESPONSIBILITY

FOR

ANY

ERRORS

IN

OR

MISINTERPRETATIONS OF SUCH INFORMATION, OR ANY

LOSS OR DAMAGE ARISING FROM OR RELATED TO ITS USE.
ANYONE UTILIZING THIS INFORMATION ASSUMES ALL
LIABILITY ARISING FROM SUCH USE.

No part of this document or software may be reproduced without the authors permission.
System Requirements : Microsoft Office.

All rights reserved.

2004 Patrick Kariuki

Tel 254-02-4445288, 254-0721-759991,

DataBASE Solutions
Universal Culvert Fitting System 2004 Patrick Kariuki

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PREFACE ........................................................................................................................... ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ................................................................................................. iv
DISCLAIMER .................................................................................................................... v
1.

CULVERT SPECIFICATION.................................................................................... 8

2.

REFERENCE LAYER AND WIDENNING ........................................................... 11

3.

OFFSETS AND CAMBERS .................................................................................... 13

4.

CHAINAGES AND FINISHED ROAD LEVELS (FRL) ....................................... 15

5.

COVER TO CULVERT ........................................................................................... 18

6.

APPLICATION TO VARIOUS CULVERT DESIGNS.......................................... 21

7.

PLOTTING PROCEDURE. ..................................................................................... 23

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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1 : Specification for Offsets and Inverts.................................................................. 8

Figure 2 : Design Convention. ............................................................................................ 9
Figure 3 : Typical End slope detail at a super elevated road section............................... 11
Figure 4 : Consideration for local embankment widening................................................ 12
Figure 5 : Pavement Cross-section ................................................................................... 13
Figure 6 : Chainages and Levels for skew angle less than 90. ........................................ 15
Figure 7 : Chainages and Levels for skew angle greater than 90. ................................... 16
Figure 8 : Entry Order for Road Offsets. .......................................................................... 17
Figure 9 : Levels for all culvert orientation. ..................................................................... 17
Figure 10 : Computation of the fill slopes length for MPCs............................................. 18
Figure 11 : Cover variation for wider culverts.................................................................. 19
Figure 12 : Inlet end Computation of fill slopes lengths ............................................... 20
Figure 13 : Outlet end Computation of cover and fill slopes lengths ............................ 20
Figure 14 : Application for culverts without head beams................................................. 21
Figure 15 : Application for culverts with high head beams.............................................. 22
Figure 16 : Basic data input .............................................................................................. 23
Figure 17 : Offsets and Levels .......................................................................................... 23
Figure 18 : Tying with OGL ............................................................................................. 24

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1.

CULVERT SPECIFICATION.

Besides the General Arrangement and Reinforcement Drawings, additional information

necessary to properly fit a culvert on a Highway include:
Chainage location
Orientation (skew angle)
Offset lengths, Left and Right (from the road centre line)
Invert levels, Left and Right
Ground Profile or OGL.

Road CL

L H S Length:(m)

R H S Length:(m)

12.1

7.8

L H S Invert:

103+214.00
FRL =891.67

886.116

4.4

885.980

R H S Invert:

Culvert Design Slope =

0.680%

Culvert Skew(Orientation) =

79

Figure 1 : Specification for Offsets and Inverts

The culvert ORIENTATION is usually specified in terms of SKEW angle in degrees. The
specification should follow some design convention such as the one illustrated in Fig 2
below. Facing the Destination, the orientation is measured clockwise. Thus an orthogonal
culvert will be 90 degrees orientation and not 0 degrees. The idea is to avoid confusion,
for instance if orientation is specified as 20 degrees, it is not clear whether the designer
means 70 or 110 degrees without a sketch aid.

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There may be a temptation to want to construct a standard culvert or to try and adopt
one whose construction details already exist. The culvert orientation should be one that
allows the culvert to naturally fit into existing or new channels while keeping the length
reasonable. The existence of obstacles suck as rock out crops should be considered as
well.

Figure 2 : Design Convention.

The DESTINATION refers to the road end point or town e.g. Mombasa. All references to
do with invert levels and offset lengths and skew angles should be referenced in this
direction. In deed these references should normally be specified as either RIGHT or
LEFT with respect to the destination.

The culvert CHAINAGE is the chainage along the road centre line at which the culvert
centre line intersects it.

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From the OGL profile taken at the culvert location the direction of flow is determined as
either LEFT or RIGHT. A culvert whose outfall is to the right is considered a RIGHT
DISCHARGING culvert and vice versa.

The Offset Lengths specified should refer to the distances from the road centreline along
the culvert centreline to the end of the culvert. The sum of right and left offset should
equal to the total length of the culvert. Additionally the DESIGN SLOPE should be the
slope ALONG the length of the culvert.

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2.

REFERENCE LAYER AND WIDENNING

The REFERENCE layer is the layer against which the covers to the culvert at both the
inlet and outlet end are based. It is selected for convenience and should ideally extend
over the entire road cross section. In fact it may even be imaginary and its position will
determine the PAVEMENT thickness above the reference pavement Layer.
The user should know the total required cover range and thus determine what minimum
or maximum need to be provided below the reference layer.

Figure 3 : Typical End slope detail at a super elevated or cambered road section

At locations for guardrail installation, where widening should normally be allowed for,
the Design Reference Layer should preferably be that on which the guardrails will be
installed and which probably extend over the entire road cross section. Guardrails will
normally be installed at sharp bends or at high fill locations. Widening may also be
required for various other reasons and before specifying a culvert for construction this
information should be confirmed first.

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Figure 4 : Consideration for local embankment widening

The FILL SLOPE is expressed as a ratio (1:n). The value (n), should be as specified in
the appropriate road cross section. Note that this may be different for high and low fills
normally determined by the difference between Finished Road Level (FRL) and Original
Ground Level (OGL) at the road centreline.

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3.

OFFSETS AND RATES OF CROSSFALL

The figure below illustrates the design convention for offset lengths and the road
crossfalls as used in this program. Note that OFFSET 1 may consist of several lanes. At
super elevation run off sections the crossfall rate for the shoulder input should be that
corresponding to the chainage at OFFSET 2. This applies, of course, to non-orthogonal
culverts, which cross various chainages. Strictly speaking the outer edge of Offset 1 is not
necessarily where the shoulder begins but rather where the crossfall rate changes.

Figure 5 : Pavement Cross-section

On a straight road section, where the road is always in camber, the crossfall is taken as
positive for both the carriageway and shoulders as illustrated in the figure. Therefore all
crossfalls about the road centreline rising above the horizontal plane are taken as negative
(super elevations crossfalls on the rising side of the road).

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The crossfall for shoulders is always positive and will always be specified in the relevant
road drawings. Normally the value is the greater of the specified minimum and the
crossfall of adjacent lane if in the same sense of fall.

Two offsets are allowed for on either side of the centre line to allow for different crossfall
rates for the shoulders and the carriageway. The program takes into account possible
asymmetry of the road cross-section such as at locations with additional lanes (such as
acceleration /deceleration lanes) or local widening for guardrail installation.

Note that while the skew angle is specified in degrees in way of data input, all
trigonometric functions on computers are by default based on radian units.

Thus for all possible theoretical skew angles (0-180 degrees) the approximate length of
the culvert is given by:

L = ProjectedLength/(cos(SkewAngle-0.5pi))

Where the Skew angle is in radians and

The projected length is the sum of
Thickness of Left Headwall (if any)
Length of Left Fill slope (if any)
Left Offset 2
Right Offset 2
Length of Right Fill slope (if any)
Thickness of Right Headwall (if any)

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4.

CHAINAGES AND FINISHED ROAD LEVELS (FRL)

Fig 6 below illustrates how the design chainages and the corresponding levels are be
derived depending on the direction of flow for skew angles less than 90 degrees.
The levels here are FRLs i.e the Final Finished Road Levels as allowance is made for the
pavement thickness down to the Reference Layer in the program.
The LEAD LEVEL is the level corresponding to the inlet side at the intersection of the
road edge and the culvert centreline in plan. The CHECK LEVEL is similar to the Lead
Level and in addition it is the level against which the culvert cover at the outlet is
computed.

Figure 6 : Chainages and Levels for skew angle less than 90.

For non-orthogonal culverts, centreline levels are generated automatically by specifying

that the road at the culvert location is on grade (Y or N) and entering the appropriate

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grade (as a percentage). In case of culverts at vertical curve locations the levels are
entered manually in the appropriate column in Fig 8, but these too can be programmed to
be computed from the parameters that define the curve.
The grade is considered NEGATIVE if the road is falling towards the destination and
POSITIVE if rising.
Fig 8 shows the relationship between the Offsets and FRLs. Offset distances should
always be entered from Left to Right in the program from top to bottom in column 1 of
the table. Note that, in this example, the reference layer is the Cement Stabilised Subbase Layer (CSSB) and Pavement Thickness above is 325mm.
The Levels for Culverts on Grade in the figure are not used unless the culvert is ON
GRADE in which case the GRADE value is used to compute the corresponding levels.
Manual Levels should correspond to the respective Chainages.

Figure 7 : Chainages and Levels for skew angle greater than 90.

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Fig 7 above illustrates how the design chainages and the corresponding levels are derived
depending on the direction of flow for skew angles greater than 90 degrees. It can be
observed that levels are interchanged depending on whether the skew angle is less of
greater than 90.

Offsets L>>R Distances

at top of
Orthogonal to Effective
CSSB
Road CL
Chainages
9.673

1.247

FRL for culverts on

Vertical curve
(If
Applicable)

103215.247

FRL for
culverts On Design Levels at Change in
Grade
top of CSSB Level from CL

891.678

891.353

0.366

Effective
Level at
Culvert CL

890.987

3.65

0.709

103214.709

891.674

891.349

0.208

891.141

0.000

103214.000

891.670

891.345

0.000

891.345

3.65

-0.709

103213.291

891.666

891.341

-0.208

891.549

6.413

-1.880

103212.120

891.659

891.334

-0.058

891.392

Figure 8 : Entry Order for Road Offsets.

The table below summarizes the relationships between Flow Direction, Lead and Check
Levels for all possible culvert orientations.

Figure 9 : Levels for all culvert orientation.

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5.

COVER TO CULVERT

The importance of cover on a road culvert cannot be over-emphasised. In deed, structural

failures of many metal pipe culverts can be attributed to inadequate cover especially
those installed on emergency or temporary basis where design considerations are
overlooked.

For a given side slope, the greater the cover the longer the culvert. The cover to culvert is
entered by the user for the LEADSIDE (inlet). The cover at the CHECKSIDE (outlet) is
computed as a function of the Check Level, the culvert slope, length, and side slope.

The covers should be checked against the specified minimum or maximum. For Metal
Culverts such as pipes and arches, the minimum and maximum fill heights will normally
be specified by the manufacturer.

Figure 10 : Computation of the fill slopes length for MPCs.

For tight fitting culverts, the minimum cover can easily be compromised depending on
the gradient of the road, the flow direction and culvert slope. This is more so for wide

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culverts where the cover may significantly vary over the width of the culvert as illustrated
in figure 10a. Clearly, the minimum cover on the program for such a culvert should be
that corresponding to the point where the cover is minimum and not at the centre line.

Figure 11 : Cover variation for wider culverts.

The CULVERT HEIGHT is the height from the culvert invert to the top of the culvert
roof. For a box culvert this may be approximated as the sum of opening height and the
top slab thickness. For a metal pipe culvert this could just be taken as the norminal height
of the culvert.

The thickness of the culvert HEADWALL (if any) is measured orthogonal to road
centreline and not along the culvert centreline.

Fig 12 below illustrates how the length of fill slopes are derived at the INLET end of the
culvert. Fig 13 illustrates how the culvert cover and fill slope lengths are derived at the
OUTLET end of the culvert. Note that the culvert is assumed to be straight and of
uniform height over its length.

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Figure 12 : Inlet end Computation of fill slopes lengths

Figure 13 : Outlet end Computation of cover and fill slopes lengths.

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6.

APPLICATION TO VARIOUS CULVERT DESIGNS

Irrespective of the form of design of the culvert inlet and outlet structures, the program
concept can still be applied by manipulating the various parameters. Some examples are
briefly illustrated below.

Culverts without head beams

A culvert such as shown in figure 14 below has no head walls and the Headwall thickness
Ht is taken as 0.

Figure 14 : Application for culverts without head beams

Precast Culverts
In the sizing of pre-cast culverts, the calculated total culvert length will most likely not be
divisible into exact number of units. Without the need for cutting, this problem can be
easily overcome by insitu casting of the ends of the culverts together with the inlet and
outlet structure including the aprons which will normally be in in-situ concrete.

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Culverts with high Head Beam

For culvert with headwalls extending right to the top of the pavement, the fill is directly
supported by the head beam and there is thus no sloping fill. The non-existent fill slope
can be considered to have a slope of 1 to 0, meaning its vertical.

Figure 15 : Application for culverts with high head beams

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7.

PLOTTING PROCEDURE.

The suggested general culvert fitting procedure is as follows:

1

Enter all relevant geometric, pavement and culvert data. Determine skew
angle from the survey plan or OGL taken at the proposed culvert location
1.0 Geometric Data:

1.1 Pavement and Culvert Data

Ref. Layer (Top of:)

KM: 103+214.00
Crossfalls

Shoulder, L

FRL at CL (M)
Pav. thk. above
CSSB (M)

2.50%

Carriageway, L

-5.71%

Carriageway, R

5.71%

Fill Side Slopes 1:

Shoulder, R

5.71%

Outfall, Left/Right

On Grade, Y/N

y
0.61%

Head wall thk (M)

Grade (If appl.)

Culvert Skew ()

Slab Height (M)

CSSB

891.670
0.325
79

2
Left
4.4
0.30

Figure 16 : Basic data input

Determine if culvert is situated on normal width of road or on a widened

section. Enter the applicable offsets orthogonal to the road centreline. The
order of entry of the offsets is crucial for culverts at asymmetrical road
sections, and should always be entered from Left to Right down column 1 of
Fig 17 starting at the top. The program calculates the distances orthogonal to
road Centreline and the effective chainages.
2.0 Chainages and Pavement Levels:
Offsets L>>R Distances
at top of
Orthogonal
CSSB
to Road CL
9.673

1.247

Effective
Chainages
103215.247

FRL for culverts on FRL for

Vertical curve
culverts On Design Levels
(If Applicable)
Grade
at top of CSSB

891.678

891.353

Change in
Level from
CL

Effective
Level at
Culvert CL

Culvert
End side

0.366

890.987

Right

3.65

0.709

103214.709

891.674

891.349

0.208

891.141

0.000

103214.000

891.670

891.345

0.000

891.345

3.65

-0.709

103213.291

891.666

891.341

-0.208

891.549

6.413

-1.880

103212.120

891.659

891.334

-0.058

891.392

Figure 17 : Offsets and Levels

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If the culvert is located on a vertical curve enter Finished road levels at the
corresponding chainages. If you entered Y for On grade, these levels will
not be used in the computations, instead appropriate figures will be generated
from the grade value entered. Tip: For Orthogonal culvert just enter Y for
on grade and 0 for grade value.

From the culvert OGL profile determine the most suitable value for the culvert
slope that will let the culvert invert tie naturally with the ground surface
profile and enter this as a percentage e.g 2.5 for 2.5%. Note that a minimum
slope of 2% is normally specified to enhance self-cleaning.

Enter a trial culvert cover at the inlet (say minimum specified cover). Check
that the culvert cover, which the program calculates for the outlet, is within
specified minimum and maximum. Note that this cover only relates to the
levels at the culvert centre line in consideration as entered in step 3 above.
For a wide culvert, additional checks may be necessary at each extreme
end on either side of the culvert centreline in addition to the culvert
centreline (see figure 11).

Figure 18 : Tying with OGL

Check that the output inverts and offsets tie well with the OGL profile.
Normally this will not be the case at first trial. If the culvert is IN THE AIR,
enter a bigger value for inlet cover and vice versa if the culvert is BURRIED.
By playing around with the two parameters namely the inlet cover and

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culver slope an appropriately balanced design is soon arrived at. Note that
these two are the only parameters that can be manipulated without
compromising covers or altering the geometric design of the road. The other
option is of course to change the culvert size and/or orientation.
7

Confirm all entered design data by ticking against each figure, probably on a
hardcopy printout.

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