The Effect of Soil Depth and Box Culvert Geometry on the Static Soil-Culvert Interaction

Soil arching is major factor that often controls the response of box culverts to static loads. The effect of relative stiffness between the culvert and the surrounding soil is critical in considering the complex soil-culvert interaction (SCI). In practice, box culverts can have different characteristic length scales in relation to vertical and horizontal soil stress changes. Therefore, the effect of box culvert size was investigated experimentally and numerically. In the present study, centrifuge tests were conducted to investigate the SCI considering the height of soil column and culvert geometry. The results were used to calibrate a numerical model to further investigate the response of the box culverts to static loads. The results have been evaluated for bending moment, soil pressure and soil culvert interaction factors. These results were then used to establish charts that may be employed to assess design values for box culverts.