Best Practices for Assessing Culvert Health and Determining Appropriate Rehabilitation Methods

Due to the invisibility of buried culverts from the surface, they often get ignored until a problem such as road settlement or flooding arises. Many of the existing culverts in the US are in a deteriorated state having reached the end of their useful design life. Consequently, there have been several reported cases of culvert failures that caused the collapse of roads which pose a significant safety risk to motorists. The overarching goal of this research project is to provide technical guidance to the South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT) in effectively managing their culvert infrastructure. Four specific objectives identified are: (1) develop guidance on the latest culvert inspection techniques for use by SCDOT; (2) develop a deterioration model to predict the future condition of culverts; (3) develop a risk‐based renewal prioritization model for deteriorating culverts; and (4) develop guidance for selecting optimal renewal methods given the culvert material, size, and user preferences. The findings of this study provide preliminary guidance for the management of culvert infrastructure by maintenance departments at state and district levels. Specifically, the models developed for deterioration prediction, risk‐based prioritization, and renewal selection would aid in effective short‐term and long‐term planning of culvert infrastructure maintenance.  

• Record URL:
  http://www.scdot.scltap.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/SPR-718-Final-Report-Revised.pdf
• 
• Record URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/32110
• Corporate Authors:

  Clemson University

  Department of Civil Engineering
  Clemson, SC  United States  29634

  South Carolina Department of Transportation

  Office of Materials and Research
  1406 Shop Road
  Columbia, SC  United States  29201

  Federal Highway Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • Piratla, Kalyan R
  • Pang, Weichiang
  • Jin, He
  • Stoner, Michael
• Publication Date: 2017-2

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Edition: Final Report
• Features: Appendices; Figures; Maps; Photos; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 150p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Best practices; Culverts; Deterioration; Evaluation and assessment; Inspection; Rehabilitation; Strategic planning; Structural health monitoring
• Identifier Terms: South Carolina Department of Transportation
• Subject Areas: Bridges and other structures; Highways; Maintenance and Preservation; Planning and Forecasting;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01640086
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: FHWA‐SC‐17‐01
• Contract Numbers: SPR 718
• Files: NTL, TRIS, ATRI, USDOT, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Jun 30 2017 7:42PM