Performance of deep-corrugated steel box-type culvert

A comprehensive investigation of the performance of a deep-corrugated steel box-type culvert is described. The design of this culvert is unique in that a 140-mm-deep corrugated cross section is employed without the use of transverse rib stiffeners. A 4.6 m span by 1.5 m rise box-type culvert that was installed as a highway stream crossing was instrumented to measure the deformations and stresses in the culvert as it was backfilled. Data was acquired on the response of the completed culvert to stationary truck loads positioned at several locations on the road surface. In the laboratory, the backfill sand was tested along several stress paths using a cubical multiaxial device, and a hyperbolic constitutive model was fit to the data. This soil model was then used in numerical simulations of the culvert-soil system completed using the finite element code CANDE. Finally, the measured culvert response was compared with predictions from the finite element model. Analysis of the field test data revealed that the culvert was highly stressed by construction equipment operating on the nearly completed backfill.