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What is a culvert in construction terms?
A culvert is a structure that channels water past an obstacle or to channel a subterranean waterway. Culverts are commonly used both as cross-drains to relieve drainage of ditches at the roadside, and to pass water under a road at natural drainage and stream crossings.
What’s the purpose of a culvert?
Culverts function primarily as hydraulic conduits, conveying water from one side of a roadway or similar traffic embankment to the other; therefore, culverts serve the dual purposes of functioning as hydraulic structures as well as acting as traffic load bearing structures.
Where are culverts used?
Purpose and Use Culverts are used in roads, bridges, and berm construction to prevent flooding and washing out of roads. They also minimize erosion, build-up of standing water, and provide pathways for run-off.
What does a culvert look like?
Pipe culverts are the most common, either circular or elliptical. Pipe-arch culverts look like a half-circle and are useful in sites with low clearance. Box culverts are box-shaped and are popular in road design because the shape provides a rigid structure that is appropriate in areas with poor soil conditions.
What is culvert apron?
Culverts. Apron: a smooth (generally concrete) surface that is placed between culvert and channel to improve capacity and reduce erosion. Backwater: to place a culvert or use a weir such that there will always be some depth of water within the culvert.
What is a culvert?
A culvert is a closed conduit or tunnel used to convey water from one area to another, normally from one side of a road to the other side. Typically culverts are box shaped, round or elliptical in cross section. Culverts can also be used to move rainwater runoff along, under or away from highways.
Are culverts made of steel?
Made of either plastic or metal, culverts and draining pipes are used in many industries.
How is a culvert constructed?
They are often pre-fabricated and can be made from pipes, reinforced concrete or other materials that are embedded within the surrounding landscape to create a bridge-like structure that permits the stable and proper flow of water under an obstacle such as a road, and can help alleviate flooding and reduce erosion.
What are the main components of culvert?
A culvert consists of three parts: the intake (also called inlet or fan), the barrel (or throat) and the diffuser (also called outlet or expansion fan) (Fig. 21.2). The cross-sectional shape of the barrel may be circular (i.e. pipe), rectangular (i.e box culvert) or multi-cell (e.g. multi-cell box culvert) (Fig. 21.2).
What is a culvert crown?
The crown is the uppermost point on the outside of the pipe wall. Spawning Bed: A habitat used by fish for producing or depositing eggs. Spring line: The line of the outer most points on the side of a culvert. For circular pipes it the line one half the diameter above the invert.
How long is a culvert?
Culverts should be set perpendicular (90 degrees) to the road’s centerline. (Culverts not set in at 90 degrees will require a greater length.) This example computes to a culvert 21 feet long.
What is the function of a box culvert?
The box culvert is a rigid frame structure and very simple in construction
What is another word for culvert?
Synonyms for Culverts: n. •conduits (noun) ways, gutters, pipes, sluices, canals, courses, conduits, sewers, trenches, ducts, channels, passages, Ditches, aqueducts. Other synonyms: •Other relevant words: chutes, drains, moats, kennels, cesspits, siphons, drainpipes, ruts, culvert, Gullies, furrows, cesspools, Cloacas, Mains, dikes.
What are culverts made of?
Culverts can be constructed of a variety of materials including cast-in-place or precast concrete (reinforced or non-reinforced), galvanized steel, aluminum, or plastic, typically high-density polyethylene. Two or more materials may be combined to form composite structures.
What does culvert mean?
Freebase (0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition: Culvert. A culvert is a drain or pipe that allows water to flow under a road, railroad, trail, or similar obstruction. Culverts differ from bridges mainly in size and construction.