Some useful terms in concrete culvert design and detailing

Apron Wall – It is also called as a cutoff wall; a vertical non-structural concrete wall that is constructed across the full width of the ends of box culverts and expanded underneath the level of the bottom slab.

Bar Mass - The mass of a reinforcing bar per unit length (kg/m).

Bearing Capacity - The utmost load that is employed to a soil at corresponding limit state.

Box Culvert - A culvert that appears in the shape of an enclosed rectangle and contains a bottom slab, two wall elements and a top slab.

Culvert Extension - A section of a culvert developed outside the limits of a culvert that subsists beforehand.

Designer – It is a manual to be applied for designing and detailing culverts by the Individual(s) chosen by the Structural Engineer.

Fill Height - The vertical distance from the top of the top slab of a culvert to the mounted surface of the roadway over it.

Haunch - The enlargement in thickness concerning a culvert's walls or slabs at the corners.

Header Wall - A vertical concrete wall that exists across the full width of the ends of a culvert and expands upwards from the level of the top slab.

Height - For box culverts, it stands for the vertical distance calculated from the top of the bottom slab to the bottom of the top slab at mid-span. For open footing culverts, it stands for the vertical distance calculated from the level of the top of the footings to the bottom of the top slab at mid-span.

Length - The length of a culvert stands for the distance among the ends, along the longitudinal axis of the culvert.

Longitudinal Axis - The longitudinal axis of a culvert remains at the geometric centroid of the culvert cross-section and is equivalent with the walls of the culvert.

Set – It stands for a set of longitudinal reinforcing bars which relate to the arrangement of a reinforcing bar in a certain location on a cross-section.

Skew Angle - The skew angle refers to the angle among the centreline of the highway and a line perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the culvert.

Skew Number - The skew number stands for the angle among the centreline of the highway and the longitudinal axis of the culvert that is calculated clockwise.

Span - The span of a culvert means the least horizontal span calculated among the inside faces of the walls.

Strut - A member that is arranged among the footings of an open footing culvert.

Traversable Grate – It stands for a safety grating over the open tapered ends of concrete culverts that does not contain traffic protection.

Article Source: www.bv.transports.gouv.qc.ca