Culvert Design Example
Reference: U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration.
Hydraulic Design Series Number 5 – Hydraulic Design of Highway Culverts.
Publication No FHWA-NHI-01-020, Revised May 2005.
Given Data
10-year design flow= 1 m^3/s
Design Head Elevation, ELhd= 33.528 m
Road shoulder elev= 34.595 m
Channel invert levation,Eli= 30.48 m
Number of barrels 1
Stream bed slope, So= 0.02 m/m
Approx Culvert length, La= 76.2 m
Fall= 0 m
Outlet elev, ELo= 28.956 m
S=So-(Fall/La)= 0.02 m/m
Hwi=Elhd-Eli= 3.048 m
Box Mannings n= 0.013 concrete
Tailwater variation Tailwater
table Flow, m^3/s elevation, mTailwater variation determined by
0.5 0.3 using cross sections upstream and
1 0.51 downstream of culvert to compute
1.5 0.64 water surface profile using standard
Based on channel n value= 0.035 water surface profile calculation
such as standard step method
Trial #1 Box width, B= 1 m Area of box= 1.00 sq m
Trial #1 Box height, D= 1 m
Inlet type= square 90 o wingwall
Technical Notes per Design Chart Explanation========> See CULVERT DESIGN FORM
(1) Q /barrel=Q/(N*B)= 1.00 m^3/s-m divide design Q by number barrels*width)
(2.a) Hwi/D 0.800 Chart 8A Use result from (1) to read across chart 8A to second line (90 o w
(2.b) Hwi 0.800 m multiply result from (2) * D - obtain 0.8
(3) Fall 0 fall - the depression of the inlet below the stream bed - is zero fo
(4) Elhi=Hwi+Eli 31.28 m elevation of headwater in inlet control
(5.a) TW 0.51 m tailwater depth as detrmined for design flow from tailwater varia
(5.b) dc 0.45 Chart 14A critical depth for rectangular cross section from chart 14 A - read
(5.c) (dc+D)/2 0.725 m (0.45+1)/2=0.725
(6.a) greater TW or (dc+D)/2,Ho 0.725 m select greater value between (5.a) and (5.c)
(6.b) ko= 0.5 loss coefficient for outlet
(7) H= 0.16 m H=(1+ko+(19.63*n^2)/R^1.33)*v^2/(2*9.81)) (sum of inlet loss, f
(8) Elho=Elo+H+He 29.84 m sum of H + Headexit +exit elev. R=A/P=
control headwater
elev 31.28 m greater value of (8) or (4) Inlet controls culvert flow capacity
full box outlet
velocity 1.00 m/s Outlet V if full flow occured He, exit velocity head=
outlet critical depth
velocity width*TW depth= 2.22 m/s Inlet V if partial flow occured flow depth=
normal depth
velocity 1.31 m/s from normal depth calc
s chart 8A to second line (90 o wingwall) - read 0.8
below the stream bed - is zero for culverts on grade
design flow from tailwater variation table
ss section from chart 14 A - read 0.45 for Q/B=1
^2/(2*9.81)) (sum of inlet loss, friction loss, and velocity head)
0.25
Inlet controls culvert flow capacity
He, exit velocity head= 0.47 m
2.5 ft
from normal depth calc 0.762 m
Longitude: -98.6400°
For return periods that exceed 10 years, the runoff coefficient from the table should be multiplied by a
frequency adjustment factor, Cf , given below.
Rational Method Hydrologic
Inputs
Drainge Area(A)= 56.65 acres Runoff Coeffcient (C) 0.16 Cf= 1.25
Adjusted Runoff
Coeffcient (Ca) = 0.2
Design Return Period = 100 Years Rainfall intensity (I) = 1.417 in/hr
Peak discharge Qp= CaIA
Qp 16.055 cfs
Culvert Size Design corogated metal pipe
Use Manning’s Equation
Inputs
100-year design flow Q= 16.055 cfs
Manning’s roughness coefficient (n)= 0.024
Slope of the energy grade line (S)= 0.0167 ft/ft
pipe diameter (D) ft
Design pipe size
D= 2.010624 ft 24.12749 in
Area (A) 457.2083 in2
Proposed pipe culvert size
d= 18 inch
A 254.469 in2
number of barrel 2
Total area 508.938 in2
Total area>Design area OK
Point precipitation frequency estimates (inches)
NOAA Atlas 14 Volume 11 Version 2
Data type: Precipitation depth
Time series type: Partial duration
Project area: Texas
Location name (ESRI Maps): Bo Texas USA
Station Name: FAIR OAKS RCH
Latitude: 29.7547 Degree
Longitude: -98.6400 Degree
Elevation (USGS): 1302 ft
PRECIPITATION FREQUENCY ESTIMATES
by duration for ARI (years): 1 2 5 10 25 50 100
5-min: 0.446 0.53 0.665 0.778 0.936 1.06 1.18
10-min: 0.709 0.844 1.06 1.24 1.5 1.7 1.9
15-min: 0.897 1.06 1.33 1.55 1.86 2.1 2.35
30-min: 1.27 1.5 1.87 2.18 2.6 2.93 3.26
60-min: 1.65 1.96 2.46 2.88 3.47 3.92 4.4
2-hr: 1.98 2.42 3.09 3.69 4.56 5.27 6.04
3-hr: 2.16 2.69 3.48 4.2 5.28 6.19 7.2
6-hr: 2.47 3.16 4.14 5.08 6.52 7.76 9.18
12-hr: 2.78 3.62 4.8 5.94 7.69 9.22 11
24-hr: 3.13 4.12 5.51 6.86 8.93 10.7 12.8
2-day: 3.57 4.73 6.35 7.93 10.3 12.5 14.9
3-day: 3.89 5.14 6.91 8.62 11.2 13.5 16.1
4-day: 4.15 5.46 7.32 9.1 11.8 14.1 16.8
7-day: 4.75 6.15 8.2 10.1 12.9 15.4 18.1
10-day: 5.25 6.72 8.9 10.9 13.9 16.3 19.1
20-day: 6.75 8.41 11 13.2 16.4 19.1 21.9
30-day: 7.99 9.78 12.6 15.1 18.5 21.3 24.2
45-day: 9.74 11.7 15 17.7 21.5 24.4 27.4
60-day: 11.3 13.5 17.1 20 24.1 27.2 30.3
Date/time (GMT): Mon Jun 2 08:30:00 2025
pyRunTime: 0.007149696350097656
chanal length 937.01
S 1.6
PF Map: Contiguous US
200 500 1000
1.32 1.51 1.65
2.11 2.38 2.59
2.62 2.98 3.27
3.64 4.17 4.6
4.94 5.72 6.36
6.91 8.18 9.23
8.34 9.99 11.4
10.8 13.1 15.1
13 16.1 18.7
15.3 19.1 22.3
17.7 22.1 25.7
19.1 23.6 27.4
19.9 24.5 28.3
21.2 25.9 29.8
22.3 26.9 30.8
25.1 29.6 33.3
27.3 31.7 35.3
30.6 35.1 38.6
33.6 38.1 41.6
