Enhanced Hydraulics Design for Highway Bridges and Culverts

The major damage to bridges occurs during floods. Damage is caused for various reasons. The main reason being scour at bridge foundations, namely piers and abutments. Because of this, accurate prediction of scour depth is extremely important in the hydraulic design of bridges. Empirical equations for estimating the contraction and local scours have been developed by different research groups. These equations are described in detail in the FHWA scour design manual HEC-18 "Evaluating Scour at Bridges" (Richardson and Davis), which are based largely on laboratory experiments and very limited field observations. This study will validate and modify existing scour equations to be specifically applicable to bridges in Hawaii's coastal zone. The culverts along coastal highways in Hawaii are often plugged by sand, which reduces the culverts' drainage capacity and may cause runoff to back up and flood the roadway during heavy rainfalls. A survey that was recently conducted on existing culverts on Oahu found that about 80% of the coastal culverts are plugged by sand, which means that the sand inside the culvert covers more than 50% of the culvert cross-sectional area. This study will assess the flood risk and maintenance need for the existing culverts and the installation of new culverts.

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Completed
• Funding: $253532.00
• Contract Numbers:

  55160

  HWY-L-2006-02

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Federal Highway Administration

  300 Ala Moana Boulevard
  Honolulu, HI  United States  96850

  Hawaii Department of Transportation

  869 Punchbowl Street
  Honolulu, HI  United States  96813-5097
• Project Managers:

  Matsuda, Curtis

• Performing Organizations:

  University of Hawaii, Manoa

  College of Engineering, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
  2540 Dole Street, Holmes Hall 383
  Honolulu, HI  United States  96822
• Principal Investigators:

  Cheng, Edmond

  Teng, Michelle

• Start Date: 20061009
• Expected Completion Date: 0
• Actual Completion Date: 20081008
• Source Data: RiP Project 12849

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Bridge abutments; Bridge foundations; Bridge piers; Bridges and culverts; Culverts; Highway bridges; Hydraulics; Research projects; Runoff; Scour
• Uncontrolled Terms: Coastal roadways
• Geographic Terms: Hawaii
• Subject Areas: Bridges and other structures; Highways; Hydraulics and Hydrology; Research;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01460447
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Hawaii Department of Transportation
• Contract Numbers: 55160, HWY-L-2006-02
• Files: RIP, USDOT, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Jan 3 2013 1:25PM