NTL Record

Title Fish Passage in Large Culverts With Low Flow
Record ID 73727
Personal Name
Creator
Zhai, Yuan; Mohebbi, Amin; Kilgore, Roger T.; Xie, Zhaoding; Shen, Jerry
Personal Name
Contributor
Kerenyi, Kornel; Lottes, Steven; Bojanowski, Cezary; Chang, Fred
Corporate Creator United States. Department of Transportation. Federal Highway Administration. Office of Infrastructure Research and Development
Corporate
Contributor
Genex Systems, LLC; Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center
Publisher United States. Department of Transportation. Federal Highway Administration. Office of Infrastructure Research and Development
Publication Date 20140801
Language English
Abstract A series of physical and numerical modeling runs were completed to support the development of a design procedure for characterizing the variation in velocity within non-embedded and embedded culverts. Physical modeling of symmetrical half-section circular culverts was conducted to provide data against which computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling could be validated. The initial CFD modeling featured two-phase numerical computations that successfully reproduced the physical modeling results. To further simplify, single-phase modeling and truncated single phase modeling were evaluated with good results. For the embedded culvert runs, a successful strategy for representing natural bed material within the culvert was developed. Once the CFD modeling was validated by the physical modeling, the CFD modeling was used to analyze the full culvert cross-sections. Test matrices included CFD runs scaled up to larger culvert sizes. One series of runs maintained Froude number based scaling and one series tested larger sizes without the scaling constraint. The CFD runs and a velocity distribution model formed the basis of a proposed design methodology for determining the velocity distribution within a culvert cross-section. Using the 42 CFD runs for a 3-ft diameter culvert, the 5 parameters necessary for the velocity model were estimated. Then, based on geometric and hydraulic parameters available to a designer, relations were developed to estimate those parameters. The approach was successfully validated on CFD runs for 6-ft and 8-ft diameter culvert models. The proposed design procedure allows a designer to estimate the velocity throughout a cross-section. These data may be depth-averaged to provide a distribution of velocity and depth across the culvert cross-section that may be used to evaluate fish passage. Although developed for circular culverts, the parameters used in the method are such that the procedure should be applicable to rectangular and other shapes. Two design examples and an application guide are provided to illustrate the method and the required computations.
Public Note The Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) was Kornel Kerenyi (HRDI-50). Steven Lottes and Cezary Bojanowski of the Argonne National Laboratory and Dr. Fred Chang contributed to this research. The Maryland State Highway Administration was the lead State coordinating with FHWA on this research.
Rosap ID dot:44394
Rosap URL https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/44394
TRT Terms Culverts; Anchoring; Fluid dynamics; Channel flow
General Subjects Culvert hydraulics; Fish passage; Velocity distribution; CFD; Culvert embedment
Geographical
Coverage
United States
TRIS Online
Accession No
1541500
Contract Number DTFH61-11-D-00010
Report Number FHWA-HRT-14-064
Resource type Tech Report
URL https://ntlrepository.blob.core.windows.net/lib/73000/73700/73727/FHWA-HRT-14-064.pdf
Format PDF
Database NTL Digital Repository