Culvert Rating Guide

The purpose of this Culvert Rating Guide is to present a clear, repeatable and valid procedure for Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) engineers and their consultants to use for load rating culverts in the TxDOT roadway system. It is the intent of this Culvert Rating Guide to assemble, summarize and clarify the necessary information for culvert load rating, both that portion specifically addressed by policy and that portion which is not, for each of the four levels of analysis. The chapters are as follows: Chapter I provides an introduction and background to culvert load rating at TxDOT. Chapter II is devoted to culvert rating policy. This chapter identifies the governing policy associated with culvert load rating, and summarizes applicable policy guidance. Chapter III outlines the culvert rating procedure. Whereas the first two chapters provide pertinent background information, this chapter lays out how culverts should be load rated at TxDOT. This includes a flow chart which summarizes the culvert rating process. Chapter IV presents the initial step for load rating a culvert. Beginning with culvert plans, construction details, and related documentation, this chapter shows how to obtain the necessary dimensional and material property data needed for culvert load rating. Chapter V discusses culvert capacity calculations. For culvert load rating, capacity is based on equations and approaches specified in AASHTO policy. This chapter presents both the policy and a straightforward approach for determining culvert capacity to facilitate the load rating calculation. Chapter VI presents the Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3 analytical modeling approaches recommended for determining demand loads associated with culvert load rating. The discussion addresses the assumptions associated with each modeling level, specification of the analytical model, assigning boundary conditions, and defining and applying dead load and live loads. This chapter also discusses available structural analysis software packages, and identifies the most common software package used in TxDOT for each level. Finally, this chapter presents a detailed, step‐by‐step procedure for calculating demand loads using the representative software package. Chapter VII discusses Level 4 modeling. This includes generalized guidance about applications, modeling approaches, software selection, and analytical procedures. Chapter VIII discusses limitations associated with use of this Guide. These include culvert type, deep fill culverts, submerged culverts, saturated soils and backfill soil modulus values. This Guide includes six appendices. Appendix A presents an example of how to accomplish the first step in culvert rating; that is, obtaining the structural rating parameters from the design drawings. Appendix B continues this example, explaining how to calculate the culvert capacity. Appendices C through E continue the example by presenting how to perform demand load calculations and culvert load rating based on Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3 modeling approaches. Appendix F presents the policy source documents for culvert load rating.

  • Supplemental Notes:
    • Project title: Evaluating Existing Culverts for Load Capacity Allowing for Soil Structure Interaction.
  • Corporate Authors:

    Texas Tech University, Lubbock

    Center for Multidisciplinary Research in Transportation
    P.O. Box 41023
    Lubbock, TX  United States  79409-1023

    Texas Department of Transportation

    Research and Technology Implementation Office, P.O. Box 5080
    Austin, TX  United States  78763-5080

    Federal Highway Administration

    1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
    Washington, DC  United States  20590
  • Authors:
    • Lawson, William D
    • Wood, Timothy A
    • Newhouse, Charles D
    • Jayawickrama, Priyantha W
  • Publication Date: 2009-8

Language

  • English

Media Info

  • Media Type: Web
  • Features: Appendices; Figures; References; Tables;
  • Pagination: 265p

Subject/Index Terms

Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 01158460
  • Record Type: Publication
  • Contract Numbers: Project 0‐5849
  • Files: TRIS, USDOT, STATEDOT
  • Created Date: Jun 8 2010 3:57PM