Analytical solution of the vertical earth pressure on load-shedding culvert under high fill

摘要

Load-shedding culvert is a new rigid culvert type to improve the performance of load reduction method. This study is to analyze the effect of vertical earth pressure on the top of load-shedding culvert through analytical model. The proposed analytical solutions are validated by the numerical results and laboratory measurements. Then, using the verified analytical model, a series of parametric studies are performed to investigate the influence of several relevant parameters on vertical earth pressure of load-shedding culvert. Moreover, the effect of elastic moduli and thickness of flexible material is discussed with numerical simulations and analytical method. The results indicate that the backfill height, properties of backfill, properties of soft layer and dimensions of loadshedding culvert have significant influence on the vertical earth pressure of load-shedding culvert. In addition, considering the load reduction effect, culvert dimensions and construction costs, the reasonable design perimeters are recommended from 0.1 to 0.2 and 0.06 to 0.13 for the ratios of load shedding block width to culvert width and the flexible material height to culvert width, respectively. Moreover, the elastic modulus ratio of backfill soil to that of flexible material is suggested no less than 20.