Designing Highway culverts

A highway culvert is a drainage facility that allows water to flow under the road without causing any traffic disruption. Corrugated and spiral steel pipe are popular for culverts because they can be installed quickly, have long life, are low in cost, and require little maintenance. With corrugated steel pipe, the seam strength must be adequate to withstand the ring-compression thrust from the total load supported by the pipe. This thrust C, lb/ft (N/m), of structure is

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Transition (spiral) Curves

While taking a turn,the centifugal forces develop so a vehicle and its contents are immediately subjected to centrifugal forces. More is the speed of vehicle sharper is the curvature and thus the greater the influence on vehicles and drivers of the change from tangent to curve. When transition curves are not provided, drivers tend to create their own transition curves by moving laterally within their travel lane and sometimes the adjoining lane,which is risky not only for them but also for other road users.
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Highway Turning Lanes

The figure below shows how the highway turning lanes can be classified:

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Structural Numbers

STRUCTURAL NUMBERS FOR FLEXIBLE PAVEMENTS

The design of a flexible pavement or surface treatment expected to carry more than 50,000 repetitions of equiva- lent single 18-kip axle load (SAI) requires identification of a structural number SN that is used as a measure of the ability of the pavement to withstand anticipated axle loads. In the AASHTO design method, the structural number is defined by

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Highway Alignments

The Geometric design of a highway consist of horizontal alignment, vertical alignment and cross-sectional elements.
Horizontal alignment of a highway defines its location and orientation in plan view. Vertical alignment of a highway deals with its shape in profile.

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Highway Curves and Driver Safety

Highway curves are designed so that safety and comfort of the driver is maintained. There is a gradual change from a tangent to the start of a circular curve.
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Parabolic Curves

Parabolic curves find there usage when we have to connect sections of highways or railroads of differing gradient. The use of a parabolic curve provides a gradual change in direction along the curve.

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Circular Curves

The most common type of horizontal curve used to connect intersecting tangent (or straight) sections of highways or railroads are Circular curves. In most countries, two methods of defining circular curves are in use: the first, in general use in railroad work, defines the degree of curve as the central angle subtended by a chord of 100 ft (30.48 m) in length; the second, used in highway work, defines the degree of curve as the central angle subtended by an arc of 100 ft (30.48 m) in length.

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