Full-Scale Test of Steel Pipe-Arch Culvert and Finite Element Analysis by Two Commercial Codes

Flexible corrugated steel culverts have been used in engineering for many years, with the first application in 1931. Since that time, the popularity of these structures has increased enormously. This paper describes full-scale static test of an instrumented corrugated steel culvert with span 2.99 m and height 2.40 m. The corrugation is 159x50 mm and the steel thickness is 3.75 mm. The over-standardized loads configuration was applied at 0.60 m soil cover. The presented test was carried out in The Bridge and Road Research Institute, Wroclaw Branch - Poland, for Via-Con Company, the Norwegian culvert's producer, in 1998. The instrumentation was comprised of the following gauges: strain gauges on steel culvert, inductive gauges located in the culvert and earth pressure cells located in surround soil. The experimental data obtained under such conditions are needed in order to verify software tools used for numerical analysis. The finite element models of the soil-structure system were created in order to simulate the construction behavior under applied static loads. Obtained empirical results were compared with the response computed using the two commercial softwares based on the Finite Element Method. For verification CosmosM v 2.9 and Plaxis v 8.2 software were chosen in present paper. Detailed description of used elements is provided. The measured and computed results are shown in tables and graphs.

• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Kunecki, Bartlomiej
  • Ebeltoft, Roger
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 86th Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC, United States
  • Date: 2007-1-21 to 2007-1-25
• Date: 2007

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: CD-ROM
• Features: Figures; Photos; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 11p
• Monograph Title: TRB 86th Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers CD-ROM

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Arches; Corrugated pipe culverts; Culverts; Finite element method; Flexible structures; Products; Prototype tests; Software packages; Static tests; Steel pipe; Strain gages; Thickness
• Uncontrolled Terms: Flexible pipes
• Subject Areas: Bridges and other structures; Geotechnology; Highways; Hydraulics and Hydrology; I42: Soil Mechanics;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01045929
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 07-0483
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: Apr 6 2007 8:15AM