Report R 168 Culvert design guide. Part 2 - Hydraulic characteristics of culverts. (3 of 10)

Publication Year

1997

Document Status

Withdrawn

Abstract

A culvert is a covered channel or pipeline used to convey a watercourse under an obstruction. Culverts provide one of the most common forms of drainage structure and have been widely used throughout the world. Numerous culverts are designed and constructed each year and, along with many existing structures, they account for a significant proportion of the cost of providing drainage. Determining the hydraulic characteristics of a culvert is complex. For the reason, most of the literature on culverts is for specialist hydraulic engineers, despite the fact that most culverts in the UK are designed by non-specialists. The lack of an accepted standard design procedure has resulted in cases of over-design, which raises costs, or under-design, which can cause flooding, and poor detailing. This report contains clear and concise guidelines for the hydraulic design of culverts, intended for use by engineers who do not have specialist knowledge of hydraulics. It provides an overall design process for new culverts, and information that can be used to analyse and assess existing culverts. The hydraulic design procedure contains worked calculations and the report includes a section on examples of good design practice.

Document History

This document is part of a larger document, Culvert design guide, which has been split into parts for ease of use. Superseded by C689 Culvert desing and operation guide, CIRIA 2010.

ISBN

9780860174677

Publisher Information