Culvert Hydraulic Performance

The Federal Highway Administration's Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center J. Sterling Jones Hydraulics Research Laboratory can physically model culverts to evaluate how size, shape, tailwater, and inlet configuration affect hydraulic performance.

Culvert performance experimental setup.

The laboratory has performed studies for several State departments of transportation to evaluate innovative inlet configurations and develop performance coefficients to assist in design. Culvert experiments have also been performed for the Federal Emergency Management Agency to support floodplain delineation.

Inlet design

The inlet efficiency of a culvert is known to have a significant effect on the hydraulic performance of the culvert.

Experimental model 1 of culvert inlet designs.

Experimental model 2 of culvert inlet designs.

Investigating culvert performance with differing inlet designs in the laboratory can lead to generally applicable design guidelines or can assist in selecting an appropriate inlet at a specific highway stream crossing with particularly difficult constraints.