A research programme was initiated by the University of Queensland, Main Roads Queensland and Australian Standards committee CE/25 to investigate the adequacy of design provisions and performance of sinusoidal profile and ribbed profile steel helical culverts for a range of low covers (overburden fills). This paper reports on live load response of the culverts. The paper examines the response of 3m diameter sinusoidal profile and ribbed profile culverts with 900mm of cover. Each culvert was instrumented with earth pressure transducers, displacement transducers and strain gauges. The test program measured significant bending strains in association with hoop strains on the culverts. The paper examines the distribution of the hoop and bending effects about the circumference to reveal a more pronounced difference in response between the two culvert types. There are also major differences between the measured behaviour of the two culverts and the assumed ring compression model used in many design standards and guidelines, including current Australian and British documents.
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