EARTH PRESSURES ON REINFORCED CONCRETE BOX CULVERTS. FINAL REPORT

An 8 ft. by 44 ft. reinforced concrete box culvert was constructed and instrumented with twenty pressure cells on the top and side slabs, and with six resistance strain gauges on the tension reinforcing steel in the top slab. Earth pressures, reinforcing steel strains and top slab deflections were measured for various combinations of dead load and live load. Dead loads were due to backfill and earth covers up to 8 ft over the top slab. Live loads were applied by parking a test vehicle having a 48 kip (214 kN) tandem rear axle at various distances from the centerline of the culvert along a perpendicular roadway constructed on the embankment above the culvert. A set of empirical equations was developed to fit the measured earth pressures. These equations account for the effect of individual wheel loads applied at any point on the horizontal roadway above the culvert. Reinforcing steel stresses, calculated from the measured strains are also presented. A comparison of the measured pressures with the AASHTO design pressures is also presented, and a proposed design procedure is developed and presented.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Research performed in cooperation with the Federal Highway Administration. Research Study Title: Determination of Earth Pressures on Reinforced Concrete Box Culverts.
• Corporate Authors:

  Texas Transportation Institute

  Texas A&M University System, 1600 E Lamar Boulevard
  Arlington, TX  United States  76011

  Texas State Department of Highways & Public Transportation

  Transportation Planning Division, P.O. Box 5051
  Austin, TX  United States  78763

  Federal Highway Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • JAMES, R W
  • Brown, D E
  • Bartoskewitz, R E
  • Coyle, H M
• Publication Date: 1986-1

Media Info

• Features: Appendices; Figures; Tables;
• Pagination: 268 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Box culverts; Earth pressure; Reinforced concrete
• Subject Areas: Bridges and other structures; Geotechnology; Highways; Hydraulics and Hydrology; I26: Water Run-off - Freeze-thaw;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00457702
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: FHWA-TX-86-27+294-2F
• Contract Numbers: Study 2-5-81-294
• Files: TRIS, USDOT, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Aug 31 1986 12:00AM