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1.

STRUCTURAL DESIGN OF THE BOX CULVERTS

The hydraulic design process yielded two box culverts; a single cell type on
chainage 1+095 on 4th Circular road and double cell type on 2+940 on 5 th
Circular Road.
1.1

STANDARDS

AND

CODES

OF

PRACTICE

The culverts were designed according to the following documents:

1.2

Ministry of Works and Transport (MoWT) Road Design Manual Vol. 4,


Bridge Design Manual, January 2010 in conjunction with,
BS 5400 - Steel, Concrete and Composite Bridges,
BD31 - Design of Buried Concrete Box & Portal Frame Structures, and,
BS8110 Structural Use of Concrete.
DESIGN LOADINGS

The loads that were applied in the design of the box culverts were: the dead load
of the top slabs, the dead load of the vertical side walls applied onto the bottom
slabs of the culverts, vertical earth loads applied onto the top slabs of the
culverts, vertical and horizontal loads imparted by the internal water, and
vertical loads applied to the top slabs due to vehicular traffic.
Each of these loads will be discussed in detail in the following paragraphs.
1.2.1

Top Slab Dead Load

The Top Slab dead load was calculated from the dimensions of the member
assuming a unit weight of reinforced concrete of 24kN/m 3. The equation for
calculating this load is:
DLTS = (gc) x TTS
Where;
DLTS - Top Slab dead load in kN/m
gc - unit weight of reinforced concrete (normally assume 24kN/m 3)
TTS - Thickness of the top slab in meters
The Top slab dead load was applied as a uniform load across the top members.
1.2.2

Vertical Wall Dead Load

The dead load of the vertical walls acting on the bottom slab was applied as
vertical concentrated load acting at the joints between the vertical walls and the
bottom slab.

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Preliminary design report
May 2015
Consultancy Services for Engineering Design of Roads at South B Estate (4.3km) at Kampala
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The self weights of two side walls acting as concentrated loads were assumed to
produce uniform soil reaction on the bottom slab.
The loads, due to the external vertical walls, were calculated using the equation:
DLSW = (gc) x H x Tw + 0.5 x DLTS
Where;
DLSW - load of exterior vertical wall acting on the base slab in kN/m
gc - unit weight of reinforced concrete (normally assume 24kN/m 3)
TSW - Sidewall thickness in meters,
H - Height of the culvert opening in meters (The Rise),
DLTS - Top Slab dead load in kN/m
For the two-cell culvert, the load on the base slab due to the interior wall was
calculated as follows:
DLIW = (gc) x H x TIW + 0.33 x DLTS
Where;
DLIW - load of interior vertical wall acting on the base slab in kN/m
gc - unit weight of reinforced concrete (normally assume 24kN/m 3)
TIW Interior wall thickness in meters,
H - Height of the culvert opening in meters (The Rise),
The weight of the base slab was assumed to have no influence on the internal
forces in the structure.

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Preliminary design report
May 2015
Consultancy Services for Engineering Design of Roads at South B Estate (4.3km) at Kampala
Industrial and Business Park - Namanve

1.2.3

Soil-Pavement Overburden

The vertical load applied to the Top Slab by the overlying soil and pavement was
taken to be the unit weight of the material multiplied by the depth of the
material. This load was calculated from the equation below and was applied as a
uniform load across the top slab, as shown in Figure 2.

DLSP = (gP) x TP + (gb) x h1+ (gs) x h2


Where;
DLSP - uniform load due to the pavement and soil in kN/m
gP - unit weight of pavement surface (assumed 12kN/m 3)
Tp - thickness of the pavement surface material in meters
gb - unit weight of the granular pavement materials (base/subbase) in kN/m 3
h1 - thickness of granular or soil material between the bottom of the pavement
surface and the top of the subgrade in meters.
gs - unit weight of soil (backfill or subgrade) in kN/m 3
h2 - thickness of soil between bottom of granular layer and top of culvert in
meters.
In general for this evaluation, the layers of granular material (base and subbase)
were considered as one layer providing with the assumption that the density of
both layers was approximately the same. The same was true for layers of soil
backfill over the culvert.

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Preliminary design report
May 2015
Consultancy Services for Engineering Design of Roads at South B Estate (4.3km) at Kampala
Industrial and Business Park - Namanve

1.2.4

Lateral Earth Pressure

There were two types of lateral earth pressures on the vertical side walls of the
box culvert that were considered for design; the one due to increase in depth
was computed according to the Coulombs theory with the assumption of a
triangular distribution and a uniform lateral pressure due to the effect of live load
surcharge. By combining these two pressures, a trapezoidal pressure distribution
on side walls due to embankment loading was obtained.
The distribution of soil pressure on the side wall is shown in Figure below:

p1 = k * q s
Where;
p1 - uniform load component of the lateral soil load in kN/m
k - Coefficient of lateral earth pressure
qs Surcharge load
And
p2 = k * (gs) * h
Where;
p2 - triangular load component of the lateral soil load in kN/m
k - Coefficient of lateral earth pressure
gs - Unit weight of soil (backfill or subgrade) in kN/m 3
h - Distance from top to bottom of culvert

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Preliminary design report
May 2015
Consultancy Services for Engineering Design of Roads at South B Estate (4.3km) at Kampala
Industrial and Business Park - Namanve

1.2.5

Water Pressure inside the Culvert

This type of loading was assumed to occur when the culvert is full with water.
The pressure distribution on side walls was assumed to be triangular with a
maximum pressure intensity given by the equation below;
p = (gw) x h at the base
Where; gw = density of water and h is the depth of flow

1.2.6

Vehicular Traffic Loads

There were two types of lateral earth pressures on the vertical side walls of the
box culvert that were considered for design; the one due to increase in depth
was computed according to the Coulombs theory with the assumption of a
triangular distribution and a uniform lateral pressure due to the effect of live load
surcharge. By combining these two pressures, a trapezoidal pressure distribution
on side walls due to embankment loading was obtained.
Load Factors (RDM, Ref: 5.1.2)

The structural design procedure used in the design of the concrete box culverts
was based on the Limit State Design procedure which requires that the load,
shear, or moment be obtained by applying load factors to the service values.
The factors, yfL to be applied to all parts of the dead load, irrespective of
whether these parts have an adverse or relieving effect, weree taken for all load
combinations as follows:

BS 5400 table 1

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Preliminary design report
May 2015
Consultancy Services for Engineering Design of Roads at South B Estate (4.3km) at Kampala
Industrial and Business Park - Namanve

For the Ultimate Limit


State
1.05
1.15

For the Serviceability Limit


State
1.0
1.0

Steel
Concret
e
Design Superimposed Dead Load (RDM, Ref: 5.2.2)
The factor, yfL, to be applied to all parts of the superimposed dead load,
irrespective of whether these parts have adverse or relieving effect, shall be
taken for all load combinations as follows:
For the Ultimate Limit
State
1.75

For the Serviceability Limit


State
1.20

Wind Load (RDM, C5.3.1.1)


For small and/or low structures, wind usually does not govern.
Temperature (RDM, Ref: 5.4.2)
For all bridges, extremes of shade air temperatures for the location of the bridge
shall be obtained from available maps of isotherms and a 50-year return period
may be adopted.
The design range of movement shall be taken as 1.3 times the appropriate
nominal value for the ultimate limit state and 1.0 times the nominal value for the
serviceability limit state.
Earth Pressure on Retaining Structures (RDM, Ref: 5.8.1)
Where filling materials are retained by abutments or other parts of the structure,
the loads calculated by soil mechanics principles from the properties of the filling
materials shall be regarded as nominal loads.
For all design load combinations, yfL, shall be taken as follows:
For the Ultimate Limit For the Serviceability Limit
State
State
1.5
1.00
Highway Bridge Live Loads (RDM, Ref: 6.2.1)
Nominal Uniformly Distributed Load (UDL) (RDM, Ref: 6.2.1)
The UDL shall be taken as 30 kN per linear meter of notional lane for loaded
lengths up to 30 m, and for loaded lengths in excess of 30 m, it shall be derived
from the equation.
W =

151(1/L) 0.475 but not less than 9.

Where L is the loaded length (in m) and W is the load per metre of the
lane (in kN)

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Preliminary design report
May 2015
Consultancy Services for Engineering Design of Roads at South B Estate (4.3km) at Kampala
Industrial and Business Park - Namanve

Nominal Knife Edge Load (KEL) (RDM, Ref: 6.2.2)


The KEL per notional lane shall be taken as 120 kN
Design HA Loading (RDM, Ref: 6.2.7)
For design, HA load considered alone, yfL, shall be taken as follows:

Combination 1
Combination 2 & 3

For the Ultimate Limit


State
1.50
1.25

For the Serviceability Limit


State
1.20
1.00

Design HB Loading (RDM, Ref: 6.3.4)


For design HB load, yfL, shall be taken as follows:
For the Ultimate Limit For the Serviceability Limit
State
State
For Combination 1
1.30
1.10
For Combination 2
1.10
1.00
&3
The design will be checked for 37 units of HB loading.
Longitudinal Load (RDM, Ref: 6.6)
For the longitudinal and primary live load, yfL, shall be taken as follows:

For HA load
For HB load

For the Ultimate Limit For the Serviceability Limit


State
State
1.25
1.10
1.10
1.00

The longitudinal load resulting from traction or braking of vehicles shall be taken
as more severe of nominal load for type HA or HB, applied at the road surface
and parallel to it in one notional lane only.
The nominal load for HA shall be 8 kN/m of loaded length plus 200kN, subject to
a maximum of 700kN, applied to an area one notional lane wide x the loaded
length.
The nominal load for HB shall be 25% of the total nominal HB load adopted,
applied as equally distributed between the eight wheels of two axles of the
vehicle, 1.8 m apart. The nominal load shall be taken as 250 kN. Type HA loading,
applied in accordance with (RDM, Ref: 6.4.1), shall be considered to act with the
accidental skidding load.
For the skidding and primary live load, yfL, shall be taken as follows:
For the Ultimate Limit
State
1.25

For the Serviceability Limit


State
1.00

Page | 7

Preliminary design report


May 2015
Consultancy Services for Engineering Design of Roads at South B Estate (4.3km) at Kampala
Industrial and Business Park - Namanve

1.3

MATERIALS SPECIFICATIONS

All component materials will be in conformance with the durability requirement


of the project sites/localities. Material specifications shall meet the requirements
of MOWT General Specifications Part 6 and the Special Specifications.
1.3.1

Concrete Grades

Concrete grades for the design of the bridge elements will be as shown in Table
12.
Table 1: Concrete grades

Table 6.2: Grades of Concretes


Superstructure (deck slab and beams)
Foundation, piers, walls and abutments
Blinding and Mass Concrete
Source: BS 5400
1.3.2

Grades
C30/20
C30/20
C15/20

Minimum Concrete Cover

Minimum concrete covers to reinforcement for the bridge elements, based on


exposure. Conditions and classes according to BS 8500 as presented in Table 13
will be adopted.
Table 2: Minimum Concrete Covers to Reinforcements

Element
Foundation Base or Footing
Abutments and Wing Walls
Beams and Slabs

Minimum Cover to Reinforcement (mm)


> (75mm or equivalent diameter of
bundled bars + 5mm)
> (50mm or equivalent diameter of
bundled bars + 5mm)
> (40mm or bar diameter +5mm or
equivalent diameter of bundled bars +
5mm)

Source: BS 5400
1.3.3

Reinforcement

Reinforcement will be hot rolled steel bars to BS 449 with the following
properties:
High Yield - Type 2 Deformed Bar
Yield Strength: Fy = 460 N/mm2
Modulus of Elasticity: E = 200 kN/mm2

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Preliminary design report
May 2015
Consultancy Services for Engineering Design of Roads at South B Estate (4.3km) at Kampala
Industrial and Business Park - Namanve

1.3.4

Concrete Protection

Concrete surfaces below finished ground level will be protected by either


bituminous coating or other equivalent chemical waterproofing materials.
1.4

STRUCTURAL DESIGN

1.4.1

Superstructure Design

Superstructure will be designed in accordance with BS 5400. Superstructure


analysis will be carried out using SAP 2000 and customised Excel Sheets by the
Consultant. AutoCAD software will be used for detailing.
The deck will be analyzed taking account of the composite action between the
beams (concrete or steel) and the in-situ reinforced concrete slab.
In order to optimize the bridge construction costs, span standardization will be
adopted. The beams for the superstructure will be standardized and shall be
reinforced concrete. In selecting the type of beam, the following advantages will
be considered;

Availability of materials (cement , reinforcing steel) locally;

Cost;

Ease of construction or installation; and

Extent of maintenance required; etc.

1.4.2

Substructure Design

Abutment wall, wing walls, and foundation will be designed as a continuous


system that prevents movement of the walls.
Reinforced Concrete Abutments will be designed to BS 5400 and checked using
an Excel Spreadsheet that has been pre-programmed by the Consultant, based
on conventional reinforced concrete theory.
Soils angle of internal friction and the unit weight of the backfill will be taken
from the Materials Report.
Stability checks will be carried out for overturning, sliding and bearing pressures
under active and passive earth pressures.
Factors of safety against overturning and sliding which will be used are as
follows:

Service Loads 2.0; and

Seismic Loads 1.5.

Page | 9
Preliminary design report
May 2015
Consultancy Services for Engineering Design of Roads at South B Estate (4.3km) at Kampala
Industrial and Business Park - Namanve

Page | 10
Preliminary design report
May 2015
Consultancy Services for Engineering Design of Roads at South B Estate (4.3km) at Kampala
Industrial and Business Park - Namanve

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