Format

Report

Document Type

Report

Publication Date

2-2025

Subjects

Bridges, Tunnels, Risk assessment -- Methodology, Bridge-sized culverts -- Load rating, Risk assessment -- Evaluation

Abstract

This report presents the results of the project sponsored by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), “Risk Based Methodology for Structural Evaluation of Bridge-Sized Culverts”. The goal of this project was to develop general methodology to (a) quantify uncertainty, especially live load uncertainty, unique to bridge-sized RC box culverts and (b) analyze and calibrate reliability of culverts rated under different rating loads. Over 344 combinations of culvert designs and backfill depths were analyzed based on the AASHTO Manual for Bridge Evaluation as well as the three-dimensional finite element models (FEMs) of the soil-culvert systems. For each combination, a wide range of vehicle loads was examined including axle groups detected in weight-in-motion (WIM) data, the HL93 design loads, the AASHTO legal loads, and the FAST Act emergency vehicles as surrogate loads. The methodology laid out in this project was illustrated with analyses on the top slab of culverts, primarily focusing on the positive bending moment at midspan.

Rights

This is a government document and no copyright attaches.

DOI

10.15760/cee-reports.02

Persistent Identifier

https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/43838

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