Many have correctly pointed out an essential design criterion that I mistakenly left out of this discussion. Ephemeral or not, waterways serve important ecological functions that can be disrupted by filling across them. A poorly designed culvert can let water through while obstructing the movement of animals and ruining their habitat as well. Engineers work with other professionals like biologists and environmental scientists to make sure that culverts are properly designed hydraulically, structurally, AND ecologically.
Hopefully. Plus over time and heavy water flows, culverts dig themselves out of embankments, obstructing the flow of fish. Especially after a fire, when landscapes paradoxically become hydrophobic, culverts can see so much water shoot through them they end up collapsing the road via erosion of the base of the embankment. Water is such a potent natural force, and it's effect is not be dismissed lightly. Improperly built trails get completely washed out by water using their easy to walk topography as the easiest way to flow all the time. So basically, water is strong yo.
Just FYI, my wife is getting suuuuper tired of hearing me talk about all these infrastructure things every time we drive by a power line or a water tower. Now we can add culverts to that list. Keep up the good work!
@All Rice notice how you're not getting a reply? That's what's called "woman-splaining" where they tell you there is a problem but do not tell you what it is while expecting you to understand what it is.
They seem magical, but the mathematics is actually quite simple. They're just calculating a linear combination of variables that approximates a function (although the variables themselves aren't necessarily linear with respect to the engineering quantities).
My senior project as a civil engineering student was to design a culvert for a small, rural road. "It's just a pipe in the ground, how complicated could it be?" That is exactly what I thought when I heard about the project as well. My jaw hit the floor when I started researching reference material for culvert design - it was way more complicated than I ever imagined! I used the same Federal Highway Design manual you referenced in the video! This video does a great job summarizing the different factors which affect the flow through a culvert, but one of the harder parts of designing a culvert is first figuring out how much water will end up going through the culvert in the first place. This can be quite tricky since it requires lots of geographic and historical information about storms in the area the culvert will be. Great video as always!
Can you give a hint about how much margin you're supposed to account for? So I assume heavy rainfall is calculated in and in several areas maybe a flood as well, but you cannot account (and pay!) for tsunami levels of water for every road.
@@hkr667 It mostly depends on the consequences of failure. A small culvert under a rural driveway can be designed for a relatively light storm because it won't create a disaster if it fails. A levee system needs to be designed for a much more intense flow event because tens of thousands of lives and hundreds of millions of dollars could be at stake. Every organization has their own criteria to decide what is "good enough." The Federal Highway Administration has a set of guidelines, counties, cities, and states have their own guidelines as well. A common design criteria is the 100-year rain/flood event. This just means that there should only be a 1% chance that in any given year a storm will occur which is too large for the infrastructure to handle. Dams or other large projects are often designed for a 1,000+ year storm.
It isn’t that hard tho. All you need is a big enough pipe for the water flow. The culvert is mainly that bumpy tin. And the fall. Most of the time it’s a 2-4 inch fall. Then you just need it dig the trench and place the pipe. And boom you have a culvert installed
Would you mind me asking which university are you doing you Civ Engineering ? What challenges have you seen as a civil engineering student and internships? I am asking this as I will be entering college this fall and I will be majoring at civil engineering too
As a simple way of explaining how important culverts are: it is estimated that (from what I last remember) 80% of all road damage in Africa comes from bad maintenance, specifically not keeping culverts clean.
I was that kid....... I can _understand_ why individuals might have found it tiring... but imo encouraging curiosity about the world is worth it. A few years of a parent getting constantly told about things they'll never retain might yield more people interested in civil engineering, or physics, or any number of things! (In case it wasn't obvious, I experienced a lot of exasperated sighs and "why do _I_ need to know that though" type reactions..)
@@PracticalEngineeringChannel You should consider putting a pinned comment on your videos so you can garner all the wisdom from the peanut gallery in one easy to check place. Also, on a somewhat related note, you failed to mention the highly popular Variable Waste Fill Flow Control Mechanism method of controlling culvert flow rates.
It’s really strange to hear such extensive discussions of culverts without a heavy suburban new england accent complaining about how someone just left this thing here for years and it’s a bad design. Plus where is all the discussion of how to deal with beavers and the noise of water? Did you know beavers don’t reuse material? give a plug to post10! :)
Just came from one of his Culvert Critic videos where he went to a logging island or something and spent like 20-30 minutes showing off failing Culverts and beautiful wildlife( including the dams from the beavers who’ve taken out a couple of those very Culverts)
My brother is a Forestry Engineer. Installing and replacing culverts was part of his job. As I remember it his two biggest complaints were: Shotgunning -- This is where on a steep side slope, the exit end of the culvert is high in the air, sticking out of the bank like the barrel of a gun. It wasn't the height of the outlet that was the big problem, but rather that this was the result of the slope of the culvert being much less than the original slope of the stream. The problem is that the when the water encounters the lower slope of the culvert, it slows down. And, when the water slows down, it drops the rocks and sand it is carrying, plugging the culvert. Double Culverts -- In flat areas, two (or sometimes even more) culverts are laid side-by-side so less fill is needed to cover them than for one larger culvert. The wall between the two culverts (the gore point if you will) is really good at catching branches. And then the branches catch other stuff quickly clogging both culverts -- especially in times of high flow when the more debris.
For some reason, I always find engineering & science stuff about water fascinating! Been here since the beginning of this channel and I actually showed some of your videos to my colleges, like the steamhammer & cavitation videos. (I work as an Operator in a Naphta Cracker chemical plant from SABIC)
Nice to see the design nomographs again. Got my hydraulic schooling in late 70's. Dr. Morgan stressed, with very much emphasis, to never allow a culvert design to experience an hydraulic jump that reaches the soffit. Still ingrained over 40 yrs. Thanks for all of your wonderful visual renderings of the maths residing in various places in my head. Much appreciated, to be sure.
Well done Grady! As a civil engineer who has developed construction plans for culverts for most of my career, I think you did a fantastic job covering this topic from a hydraulic perspective. Suggestion: Roadside safety considerations when it comes to inlet and outlet configurations using end sections, clear zones, obstruction-free zones, and guardrail would make a perfect followup to this video.
I had to look this guy's channel up. He would *love* my neighborhood. It's a floodplain built on canal drained marshland between two rivers that is so low that the water table rises up through the ground causing streets and yards to turn into lakes all over the neighborhood. He'd have a hell of a time finding somewhere to drain the water to! The streets are dotted with pump hoses from the unfortunate people with basements in their homes since their basements are literally underwater. I'm wish my house had a basement but am glad it doesn't.
And you didn't even mention culverts designed for fish-bearing streams. Working for WSDOT, I was provided a list of over 5000 culverts on the Olympic Peninsula that needed to be managed, most of which were fish-bearing streams. I ended up writing the software to design the stream beds required for these culverts. That adds a whole new level of design and is worthy of yet another video. I always love your videos. Again, a job well done.
When I was young we used to see pipes put under roads and somebody told me they were tunnels to help hedgehogs cross the road safely. Now I think, maybe they were just culverts and I was being lied to 😢
Aeronautical Engineer: So you see we can achieve a 1% lightening of the structure by using AI and 3D printing to finely optimise the shape of the internal support Civil Engineer: Pipe.
My civil engineering professors explicitly told us to not do that type of fanciness. If you want an AI optimized pipe exactly for your requirements, you certainly could design one, but it'll be much more expensive than buying a slightly bigger mass produced one, and thus less efficient. So, yep. Pipe. Pipe good.
There's a spot on the paneling in the kitchen at my home that looks like a long legged bird and when I was in middle school I decided to put googly eyes on it and my mom wasn't very happy for some reason...
"Allow me to introduce you to the US Federal Highway Administration's Hydraulic Design of Highway Culverts, Third Edition." Ah, yes, I love it when you talk dirty to me.
As an environmental engineering student, I just took a class on urban ecology where we talked a whole lot about culverts and other water management infrastructure! While they are an amazing work of engineering from a civil perspective, another unintended consequence downstream can be the increased water velocity. While this is a bigger deal with channelized streams and other, longer, water management infrastructure, having all of the water flow over a smooth, engineered material allows for much greater speeds at the same slope made of soil. This can lead to downstream erosion, and in extreme cases, undercutting of the soil along the banks leading to the collapse of the bank into the water--which harms the water quality and decrease overall stream health. When designing the built environment, make sure to remember that we share this planet with all sorts of other life!
@Aluzky Sorry, but if you eat the vegetation, that will increase water flow and remove the erosion control provided by plants. Breatharian. It's the only way to go.
I love this channel because it really makes me aware of all the engineering and human effort that's gone into the most basic facets of the constructed world around me. I feel like in another world where I was good at school I would have been a civil engineer
Quite the opposite, he's taking something that everyone think is so simple, tells you why it's complicated, and then brings it back to simple with a succinct explanation.
Those charts that you calculate with a straightedge are amazing! Reminds me of the E6B flight computer "whiz wheel". We had to come up with some amazing shortcuts before we had computers to do it for us
"We need a way to measure water level Grady: *sticks googly eyes* Then we need to measure quantity of agitation in our structure Grady: *sticks googly eyes* And don't you find this device is pretty blank ? Grady: *sticks googly eyes* How do you do that ?"
My CnC router at work has 2 independent single axis accelerometers in perpendicular planes, with a triangular marker denoting the planar transition. Aka, I have googly eyes and a nose on my Cnc head.
This is what I love about this channel, it gives you a glimpse of the level of technology and complexity we are surrounded by every day, how much knowledge, how much ingenuity goes into the seemingly simplest things, which is the real reason for our high living standard. We can do things with an efficiency nowadays that people a century ago (if you even have to go back that far) could have only dreamed of, and if you have, let's say, five things that are connected, and every step takes only 90% of the effort it took before, you end up with 60% of the expense you had before. _That_ is the true power of engineering. And if you ever e.g. did your personal laundry by hand instead of just using a washing machine, you will understand this even on a personal level. So, thank you, engineers and scientists of this world!
My dad is a civil engineer who specializes in culvert design and drainage. I never understood culverts until I stumbled on this video. Absolutely amazing. I appreciate your ability to explain complicated concepts in true layman’s terms. Your other videos are equally fantastic. Much thanks.
This topic made me realize you should really do a collaboration with Post10, Practical Engineering. He does a lot of on the ground work with culverts, and other drainage systems, and you understand a lot of the theory and engineering behind them. You'd be an all star team together!
Currently dealing with a culvert issue that’s causing flooding in my back yard. This was...more informative than the construction guy I talked to. Thanks!
Grady is one of the most amazing science communicators. Somehow against all odds he has me, a person who barely passed the SAT from an abysmal math score, deeply interested in pipes. To the degree where i'm seriously considering skimming a 300 page article on how to put a hole under a road. Incredible.
My favourite is in a neighbouring village, the river is flat, there are buildings on either side with no space for a bridge - the river just runs straight across the road, it's wide but very shallow and slow moving. The village has been around since the 1100s and I guess that's how it has always been and will always be. There are these raised bricks with 3/4" gaps on the inlet end which you can walk over without getting wet and it also distributes the water across a large area.
This channel has helped me understand what my wife keeps talking about. I’m a statistician and she’s a civil engineer, and this channel has helped me immensely understand why she’s so excited when we drive past seemingly mundane structures
Grady, you're truly a treasure to the engineering community. Whether it's a client trying to understand a design or trying to teach a young engineer early in their career, I can always count on your channel to explain things accurately and concisely in a manner that everyone can understand. Thanks for what you do.
When he mentioned mitered culverts my head immediately went to that one Better Call Saul episode in season 5. Some cops are watching for a drug bust, and one of the cops remarks on the name of the culvert itself saying it over and over like it's a foreign language lol.
As a carpenter working for a general contractor in Canada, who wants to advance to a superintendent or even project manager role, I find this channel super helpful for my general knowledge
I'm currently in my third year of studying civil engineering(not from the USA) and we use the exact charts that you showed in your video. I hope to work in the transportation industry once I finish my degree. Thanks for the amazing videos.
1:06: "It would be nice if the landscape between these points were flat, but this is rarely true". Unless you live in The Netherlands, in which case this very much is the norm
I grew up in South Florida. Terrain altitude never changed measurably other than the landfill near Fort Lauderdale Airport we all called Mt. Trashmore.
I love your videos especially this one. I love New England railroad history. There are many abandoned rail lines around me, some have been turned into paved (ugh) bike paths some left natural to be reclaimed by the forest. All of them have culverts that allow the flow of water under the rail embankment. When I walk these and see a brook on both sides of the fill it is time to scamper down the slope and see what structure they built in 1840 or 1850. Most often it is made of cut granite measuring 3'x3' but there are many stone arches that can easily be walked through. Literally a cool thing to do on a hot summer afternoon with the proper gear of course. I think of the effort made by both engineers and stone masons alike so many years ago and I am amazed, but now they only support themselves and some walkers.
When I was doing my mandatory military service in 2008-2009, Estonia, we used culverts to cross roads while remaining harder to see. Not the originally intended use, but works well enough in some cases.
My bro is a marine for USA and he said when we went to Estonia that everyone was super tall . That no one drinks cold drinks and that theres these weird chocolate cheese candies
@@lancelotkillz we are a fairly tall people, I'm 6'2, my brother is 6'3, dad is 6'0. Don't know about people not drinking cold drinks in the summer people definitely do, but ice usually isn't put in them. The chocolate cheese things are really nice snacks, kohuke is the local name for them if you want to look em up.
I was out hiking with my family yesterday and noticed a partially buried pipe running under the trail, diverting some water from uphill. I asked everyone if they knew what that was -- "it's a pipe" was the response. Ahem -- now my family knows what a culvert is! Thank you for your continued focus on education, Grady. Keep up the good work!
This is the best need channel out there. All other information based videos provide too much filler material, try to be too quirky, and not as informative and entertaining too watch. Most others just talk and no demonstration, animation, or b-roll which makes it extremely boring. Keep up the great work, really love the videos!
One of my uncles was a surveyor and a civil engineer. He was hired to plat out a small subdivision around a golf course. Because he could, when he turned in the papers he also marked where culverts needed to be and how big they needed to be if an area was going to be filled. The main entry was a whopper. A huge area outside the development drained across the temporary road that was in place to get the golf course and it's infrastructure built. He calculated that they needed at least 4 6' culverts to survive a 20 year flood, the then current code minimum. He suggested that a bridge would be better both esthetically and practically as it would also eliminate a golf cart path crossing the main entrance road. The developer ignored this and had some 4' culvert delivered. My uncle told him, and followed up in writing both to him and the county that 4 4' culverts would wash out on average every 5 years and did not meet code. They built a grand entrance gate and only installed 3 of the 4 culverts. The road washed out 2 months later, taking the grand entrance gate with it and the water backed up and flooded the $4M clubhouse before the road washed out. When the road gave way the water ripped the clubhouse off its foundation and tore it to bits. They tried to sue him over that and lost big time. The development failed and to this day some 40 years later there is nothing there but some dried up golf hazards and the foundation of a $4M clubhouse. When you hire good people, make sure you listen to them. Had the just left the road on the temporary road's grade it would have flooded the road and maybe washed away some of the pavement, but the clubhouse and the grand entrance gate would have been fine and the development might have succeeded.
When I was a wee lad I was absolutely obsessed with culverts. I'd gotten into model trains but I wasn't too big on the trains themselves; the terrain was the most fascinating thing to me. I built little culverts out of foam board, poured plaster culverts, went to the model shop and bought little culvert kits. I don't know why I loved them so much, it was just such an interesting feature of the landscape to me. This video was such a treat! I never knew how complex those unassuming water tubes could be.
When i get stressed out over watching videos of wives cheating. The husband believing there excuses. Giving them a second, third, fourth, etc. I have to watch his videos to relax and thats the truth
This brings back memories. One of my manuals in my library was the book with the nomographs. Used it many times. Left it for the young engineers when I retired. Now it is all computer programs, course my college education through my MS degree was all slide rules and did not see a handheld calculator till my first job. Times have changed.
Thanks for this! I know it’s mundane, but I’ve always been fascinated by culverts as they’re quite prolific here in Oregon and the PNW in general. I’ve grown up seeing them in all configurations and in all levels of rainfall so I’ve walked through massive empty culverts in the summer and seen relatively small culvert exits shooting water at high speeds during heavy rain. As a kid, you kinda wonder things like how deep they go and how far they travel, what it’s like for bugs who get sucked into them, etc. so learning all of this stuff really elucidates my lifelong curiosity!
@@whoeveriam0iam14222 What an age we live in when a dude who clears storm drains becomes an internet celebrity. Thinking about it, that's one of the AWESOME things about the age we live in 😂
Grady, I truly enjoy both the educational and entertainment value of your video postings. This one on culverts has a large and significant omittance: Every one of the culvert you displayed was a barrier to fish and wildlife passage. While the engineering of culverts is well represented, it should be noted that installing culverts on living systems, such as streams and creeks, is not always done by the engineering community in ways that are cooperative with other objectves that stream managers may have, including the propagation and sustainment of native aquatic species. Thanks for posting all your videos and I suggest this only as constructive criticism.
When I was younger a culvert near my house would fill 1/2 way up during the winter and freeze over, so me and my neighbors would sprint as fast as we can and then dive and we would slide through it. Thanks for bringing back so much fun memories:)
A lot of commercials for tampons and similar product are too squeamish to actually show something that resembles blood so they use blue water instead. Some company recently used red water and I remember that being a whole thing where some people were upset about it, most people though appreciated it especially since it's way more useful information.
Many have correctly pointed out an essential design criterion that I mistakenly left out of this discussion. Ephemeral or not, waterways serve important ecological functions that can be disrupted by filling across them. A poorly designed culvert can let water through while obstructing the movement of animals and ruining their habitat as well. Engineers work with other professionals like biologists and environmental scientists to make sure that culverts are properly designed hydraulically, structurally, AND ecologically.
Practical Engineering beavers be blocked by bad building
Hopefully. Plus over time and heavy water flows, culverts dig themselves out of embankments, obstructing the flow of fish. Especially after a fire, when landscapes paradoxically become hydrophobic, culverts can see so much water shoot through them they end up collapsing the road via erosion of the base of the embankment. Water is such a potent natural force, and it's effect is not be dismissed lightly. Improperly built trails get completely washed out by water using their easy to walk topography as the easiest way to flow all the time.
So basically, water is strong yo.
@@Cordman1221 water doesn't give a damn how well designed your feature is,it *will* break it.
Can u do a video on pneumatic tube systems?
TO: Practical Engineering
Very good job! Thanks and keep it up.
Just FYI, my wife is getting suuuuper tired of hearing me talk about all these infrastructure things every time we drive by a power line or a water tower. Now we can add culverts to that list. Keep up the good work!
I'll add wife AND grandson
Lol
@All Rice you're probably a mansplainer bud.
@All Rice notice how you're not getting a reply? That's what's called "woman-splaining" where they tell you there is a problem but do not tell you what it is while expecting you to understand what it is.
@@huuamai8151 if you don't already know what it is, then you're guilty my dude.
The engineering of those nomographs is actually more impressive than the culverts themselves.
they were still probably calculated by a computer.
SuperAWaC no. They are from the studies and built by engineers using formulae.
@@SuperAWaC Fun fact: "Computer" used to refer to a person doing sums manually, without the aid of silicon. In that sense, you're not wrong.
@@ideallyyours Funfact: Not all computers used silicon. Vacuum tubes have existed for a long while, albiet large and ineffecient.
They seem magical, but the mathematics is actually quite simple. They're just calculating a linear combination of variables that approximates a function (although the variables themselves aren't necessarily linear with respect to the engineering quantities).
My senior project as a civil engineering student was to design a culvert for a small, rural road. "It's just a pipe in the ground, how complicated could it be?" That is exactly what I thought when I heard about the project as well. My jaw hit the floor when I started researching reference material for culvert design - it was way more complicated than I ever imagined! I used the same Federal Highway Design manual you referenced in the video!
This video does a great job summarizing the different factors which affect the flow through a culvert, but one of the harder parts of designing a culvert is first figuring out how much water will end up going through the culvert in the first place. This can be quite tricky since it requires lots of geographic and historical information about storms in the area the culvert will be.
Great video as always!
Can you give a hint about how much margin you're supposed to account for? So I assume heavy rainfall is calculated in and in several areas maybe a flood as well, but you cannot account (and pay!) for tsunami levels of water for every road.
@@hkr667 I think there is a video on this channel that deals with that question. You basically plan for a "100 year" flood.
@@hkr667 It mostly depends on the consequences of failure. A small culvert under a rural driveway can be designed for a relatively light storm because it won't create a disaster if it fails. A levee system needs to be designed for a much more intense flow event because tens of thousands of lives and hundreds of millions of dollars could be at stake.
Every organization has their own criteria to decide what is "good enough." The Federal Highway Administration has a set of guidelines, counties, cities, and states have their own guidelines as well. A common design criteria is the 100-year rain/flood event. This just means that there should only be a 1% chance that in any given year a storm will occur which is too large for the infrastructure to handle. Dams or other large projects are often designed for a 1,000+ year storm.
It isn’t that hard tho.
All you need is a big enough pipe for the water flow. The culvert is mainly that bumpy tin. And the fall. Most of the time it’s a 2-4 inch fall.
Then you just need it dig the trench and place the pipe. And boom you have a culvert installed
Would you mind me asking which university are you doing you Civ Engineering ? What challenges have you seen as a civil engineering student and internships? I am asking this as I will be entering college this fall and I will be majoring at civil engineering too
"On today's episode, we're talking about culverts"
-- Post10 has entered the chat
Me being a fan of Post10 is the only reason I chose to watch this specific video when it got got into my recommendations
hahaha
Post10 is a legend
I was thinking that lol.
literally came here looking for this kind of comment 😂😂😂
As a simple way of explaining how important culverts are: it is estimated that (from what I last remember) 80% of all road damage in Africa comes from bad maintenance, specifically not keeping culverts clean.
Which I imagine post 10 himself (youtube channel name) would take care of most of the culvert maintenance if he were over there.
Some of the worst spots when it floods is culverts because they get backed up with debris really fast with a big storm
that's amazing!!
Presumably no potholes though, right? Or at least very few except in the most elevated areas of the continent.
Raciest to bring Africans into this.
Kid: Mom, what's that?
Mom: That's a pipe son.
Kid: No Mom, it's an inlet controlled mitered culvert.
Mom: "then why do you ask?"
Hello Kitty Lover Man! My
Mom: You're grounded.
I was that kid....... I can _understand_ why individuals might have found it tiring... but imo encouraging curiosity about the world is worth it. A few years of a parent getting constantly told about things they'll never retain might yield more people interested in civil engineering, or physics, or any number of things! (In case it wasn't obvious, I experienced a lot of exasperated sighs and "why do _I_ need to know that though" type reactions..)
Dad: What did I say about trying to be smarter than me boy?
I identified most of the culverts I see as garbage controlled. Is that correct?
Mattress controlled is my favorite!
Lol. We've also got a bunch that are beaverdam-controlled.
The correct term is Variable Waste Fill Flow Control Mechanism.
Except when that post 10 guy is nearby.
@@seneca983 hes a hero
Sizing culverts right now.... Man this video brings me back. I don't think i'll ever forget Nomographs.
I think all of life's numerical challenges should come with a nomograph!
@@PracticalEngineeringChannel Corrected - "I think all of life's -numerical- challenges should come with a nomograph!"
@@PracticalEngineeringChannel You should consider putting a pinned comment on your videos so you can garner all the wisdom from the peanut gallery in one easy to check place.
Also, on a somewhat related note, you failed to mention the highly popular Variable Waste Fill Flow Control Mechanism method of controlling culvert flow rates.
“What Is a Culvert”
You should watch Post 10 dude, he’s an expert about culverts, literally...
It’s really strange to hear such extensive discussions of culverts without a heavy suburban new england accent complaining about how someone just left this thing here for years and it’s a bad design. Plus where is all the discussion of how to deal with beavers and the noise of water? Did you know beavers don’t reuse material? give a plug to post10! :)
Yep. Just a guy and his rake on a rainy day.
Post 10 is the hero the world needs!
Just came from one of his Culvert Critic videos where he went to a logging island or something and spent like 20-30 minutes showing off failing Culverts and beautiful wildlife( including the dams from the beavers who’ve taken out a couple of those very Culverts)
Post 10 yay
My brother is a Forestry Engineer. Installing and replacing culverts was part of his job. As I remember it his two biggest complaints were:
Shotgunning -- This is where on a steep side slope, the exit end of the culvert is high in the air, sticking out of the bank like the barrel of a gun. It wasn't the height of the outlet that was the big problem, but rather that this was the result of the slope of the culvert being much less than the original slope of the stream. The problem is that the when the water encounters the lower slope of the culvert, it slows down. And, when the water slows down, it drops the rocks and sand it is carrying, plugging the culvert.
Double Culverts -- In flat areas, two (or sometimes even more) culverts are laid side-by-side so less fill is needed to cover them than for one larger culvert. The wall between the two culverts (the gore point if you will) is really good at catching branches. And then the branches catch other stuff quickly clogging both culverts -- especially in times of high flow when the more debris.
The bridge about 400 feet from the house has a double and I can confirm, I have to get down and clean out the dam almost every year
Yep your brother’s job is also mine.
For some reason, I always find engineering & science stuff about water fascinating! Been here since the beginning of this channel and I actually showed some of your videos to my colleges, like the steamhammer & cavitation videos. (I work as an Operator in a Naphta Cracker chemical plant from SABIC)
Nice to see the design nomographs again.
Got my hydraulic schooling in late 70's.
Dr. Morgan stressed, with very much emphasis, to never allow a culvert design to experience an hydraulic jump that reaches the soffit.
Still ingrained over 40 yrs.
Thanks for all of your wonderful visual renderings of the maths residing in various places in my head. Much appreciated, to be sure.
When a guy is wearing a shirt like this and his name is Grady you know he’s a damn good engineer!
Well done Grady! As a civil engineer who has developed construction plans for culverts for most of my career, I think you did a fantastic job covering this topic from a hydraulic perspective. Suggestion: Roadside safety considerations when it comes to inlet and outlet configurations using end sections, clear zones, obstruction-free zones, and guardrail would make a perfect followup to this video.
Yet another thing I didn't know I wanted to know about. Thank you m8.
You should consult the undisputed expert in this field, Post 10.
Hahah yes I commented that they should collab!!! I am so obsessed with Post's videos 💜💜💜
Exactly 🤣
Yes!!!!!!!!!!
I had to look this guy's channel up. He would *love* my neighborhood. It's a floodplain built on canal drained marshland between two rivers that is so low that the water table rises up through the ground causing streets and yards to turn into lakes all over the neighborhood. He'd have a hell of a time finding somewhere to drain the water to! The streets are dotted with pump hoses from the unfortunate people with basements in their homes since their basements are literally underwater. I'm wish my house had a basement but am glad it doesn't.
You mean Trump, right? Nobody knows more about Culverts than Trump does.
I took a hydraulics course in college. This is icing on the cake! Thank you.
Glad you liked it!
@@PracticalEngineeringChannel As the British might say, "You're a very good presenter." Enjoy your day.
Anyone mentions culverts
Post10: so lets explore and unclog this culvert
i was looking for this comment :D
@@didiera.49 same lol
same haha
Post 10 probably sent a 'Private Message' to Grady with a list of corrections!
GO Post 10 !!!! 😁
And you didn't even mention culverts designed for fish-bearing streams. Working for WSDOT, I was provided a list of over 5000 culverts on the Olympic Peninsula that needed to be managed, most of which were fish-bearing streams. I ended up writing the software to design the stream beds required for these culverts. That adds a whole new level of design and is worthy of yet another video.
I always love your videos. Again, a job well done.
4 Seasons Ranch Ideal places for the Indians to put nets..
When I was young we used to see pipes put under roads and somebody told me they were tunnels to help hedgehogs cross the road safely. Now I think, maybe they were just culverts and I was being lied to 😢
In some areas they could be used by wildlife to cross the road, especially if they're not completely full of water.
In some places it might be a sewage pipe.
Here in Colorado we live with a lot of wildlife. Roads can be deadly to animals and tunnels like this can be life savers for them.
@Jan - AmiLoGiXx Green bridges are also built in some projects.
Did you also get the Santa Claus and Tooth Fairy baloney....? 🤔
I was amazed at how much difference the flush culvert made compared to the protruding culvert on your demo model. Unbelievable!
Aeronautical Engineer: So you see we can achieve a 1% lightening of the structure by using AI and 3D printing to finely optimise the shape of the internal support
Civil Engineer: Pipe.
My civil engineering professors explicitly told us to not do that type of fanciness. If you want an AI optimized pipe exactly for your requirements, you certainly could design one, but it'll be much more expensive than buying a slightly bigger mass produced one, and thus less efficient.
So, yep. Pipe. Pipe good.
@@cgunugc sure, but I think the implication here is that civil is the short bus of engineering.
@@cgunugc haha big pipe goes blub blub blub
when in doubt, go up a size
@@cgunugc That's what I learned using West Point Bridge Builder in school. Sometimes using stronger materials was cheaper because it was more common.
“Culverts”
*post 10 has entered the chat*
I came here to say this. Grab a like instead
agreed
i love post 10 oso
Its been a wild ride since I read your comment. I've got me rake on speed dial next time it rains.
I was looking for this comment...
"I'll mark the water level with googly eyes."
He knows his audience so well 😭
There's a spot on the paneling in the kitchen at my home that looks like a long legged bird and when I was in middle school I decided to put googly eyes on it and my mom wasn't very happy for some reason...
So Grady, I see that you have a deduction here for googly eyes. Care to explain?
The googly eyes were in the government manual he mentioned so they were spec.
"Allow me to introduce you to the US Federal Highway Administration's Hydraulic Design of Highway Culverts, Third Edition."
Ah, yes, I love it when you talk dirty to me.
Post10 probably has a signed copy
😂😭
I'm so eager for the 4th edition to come out!
@Aluzky lol
Culverts know how to get me wet
As an environmental engineering student, I just took a class on urban ecology where we talked a whole lot about culverts and other water management infrastructure! While they are an amazing work of engineering from a civil perspective, another unintended consequence downstream can be the increased water velocity. While this is a bigger deal with channelized streams and other, longer, water management infrastructure, having all of the water flow over a smooth, engineered material allows for much greater speeds at the same slope made of soil.
This can lead to downstream erosion, and in extreme cases, undercutting of the soil along the banks leading to the collapse of the bank into the water--which harms the water quality and decrease overall stream health. When designing the built environment, make sure to remember that we share this planet with all sorts of other life!
@Aluzky Sorry, but if you eat the vegetation, that will increase water flow and remove the erosion control provided by plants.
Breatharian. It's the only way to go.
@@dougsundseth6904 YAY! Transmetropolitan reference!
i unironically hate you
Bf=7%54_2%4_25-/
I love this channel because it really makes me aware of all the engineering and human effort that's gone into the most basic facets of the constructed world around me. I feel like in another world where I was good at school I would have been a civil engineer
Practical Engineering: Culverts.
Post 10: Let me introduce myself
was looking for a post10 comment :D
Thanks!
You are just amazing... You have made something quite complicated sound mostly simple.... Thank you very much for your efforts. 🙏🙏🙏
Quite the opposite, he's taking something that everyone think is so simple, tells you why it's complicated, and then brings it back to simple with a succinct explanation.
coshur O no!
Those charts that you calculate with a straightedge are amazing! Reminds me of the E6B flight computer "whiz wheel". We had to come up with some amazing shortcuts before we had computers to do it for us
"We need a way to measure water level
Grady: *sticks googly eyes*
Then we need to measure quantity of agitation in our structure
Grady: *sticks googly eyes*
And don't you find this device is pretty blank ?
Grady: *sticks googly eyes*
How do you do that ?"
A true engineer.
If you want to see a true lover of google eyes, go check out Device Orchestra 🤣
CorridorDigital did a video on this some years ago.
My CnC router at work has 2 independent single axis accelerometers in perpendicular planes, with a triangular marker denoting the planar transition. Aka, I have googly eyes and a nose on my Cnc head.
what if we need a way to measure googly eyes?
This is what I love about this channel, it gives you a glimpse of the level of technology and complexity we are surrounded by every day, how much knowledge, how much ingenuity goes into the seemingly simplest things, which is the real reason for our high living standard. We can do things with an efficiency nowadays that people a century ago (if you even have to go back that far) could have only dreamed of, and if you have, let's say, five things that are connected, and every step takes only 90% of the effort it took before, you end up with 60% of the expense you had before. _That_ is the true power of engineering. And if you ever e.g. did your personal laundry by hand instead of just using a washing machine, you will understand this even on a personal level.
So, thank you, engineers and scientists of this world!
My dad is a civil engineer who specializes in culvert design and drainage. I never understood culverts until I stumbled on this video. Absolutely amazing. I appreciate your ability to explain complicated concepts in true layman’s terms. Your other videos are equally fantastic. Much thanks.
I hope you show your dad this video!
Post10 watcher here. I’m something of a pro on Culverts now thanks. 👍🏻
Ha! I was wondering if someone had mentioned post10 already!
2:38 To be fair, governments and engineers could both make a 300 page manual about almost anything.
They've probably made a 300 page manual about manuals.
@@jamesengland7461 It's called " Monthly Catalog of United States Government Publications" and it's 838 pages . . . but it's a quick read.
Like UFOs.
Don't forget, there are manuals from technical writers about how to write good manuals. 😉
This topic made me realize you should really do a collaboration with Post10, Practical Engineering. He does a lot of on the ground work with culverts, and other drainage systems, and you understand a lot of the theory and engineering behind them. You'd be an all star team together!
Never thought I would be admiring the modern marvel of a highway culvert, but here I am... Great video.
Currently dealing with a culvert issue that’s causing flooding in my back yard. This was...more informative than the construction guy I talked to. Thanks!
A pipe under the road, boring...
Practical Engineering: wrong
Practical Engineering: look through 300 pages of document for that pipe
The essence of engineering is writing a document the length of a novel about a single pipe under a road.
@@hedgehog3180 And not once do they mention what color it should be.
Dear Alacritous,
For color, I believe that you would want to consult a landscape architect.
@@Alacritous obviously red, red is the fastest color, thus giving you the fastest flow rates.
Culverts?
Oh those pipes that post10 cleaned
Grady is one of the most amazing science communicators. Somehow against all odds he has me, a person who barely passed the SAT from an abysmal math score, deeply interested in pipes. To the degree where i'm seriously considering skimming a 300 page article on how to put a hole under a road. Incredible.
My favourite is in a neighbouring village, the river is flat, there are buildings on either side with no space for a bridge - the river just runs straight across the road, it's wide but very shallow and slow moving. The village has been around since the 1100s and I guess that's how it has always been and will always be. There are these raised bricks with 3/4" gaps on the inlet end which you can walk over without getting wet and it also distributes the water across a large area.
This channel has helped me understand what my wife keeps talking about. I’m a statistician and she’s a civil engineer, and this channel has helped me immensely understand why she’s so excited when we drive past seemingly mundane structures
Finally someone is talking about the majestic culverts of Spain
Grady, you're truly a treasure to the engineering community. Whether it's a client trying to understand a design or trying to teach a young engineer early in their career, I can always count on your channel to explain things accurately and concisely in a manner that everyone can understand. Thanks for what you do.
When he mentioned mitered culverts my head immediately went to that one Better Call Saul episode in season 5. Some cops are watching for a drug bust, and one of the cops remarks on the name of the culvert itself saying it over and over like it's a foreign language lol.
The best civil engineering channel i have found
As a carpenter working for a general contractor in Canada, who wants to advance to a superintendent or even project manager role, I find this channel super helpful for my general knowledge
I'm currently in my third year of studying civil engineering(not from the USA) and we use the exact charts that you showed in your video. I hope to work in the transportation industry once I finish my degree. Thanks for the amazing videos.
1:06: "It would be nice if the landscape between these points were flat, but this is rarely true". Unless you live in The Netherlands, in which case this very much is the norm
I grew up in South Florida. Terrain altitude never changed measurably other than the landfill near Fort Lauderdale Airport we all called Mt. Trashmore.
'Straya
True enough, but "flat, but under sea level" brings a whole _other_ set of challenges ;)
Texas Panhandle ftw
Unless you live in ____
nice video. After watching this my recommendation is now full of Post 10 videos.
You are just so in-tuned with my life! I'm currently working on a few culvert designs on Thomas Springs Road just outside of ATX!!
I love your videos especially this one. I love New England railroad history. There are many abandoned rail lines around me, some have been turned into paved (ugh) bike paths some left natural to be reclaimed by the forest. All of them have culverts that allow the flow of water under the rail embankment. When I walk these and see a brook on both sides of the fill it is time to scamper down the slope and see what structure they built in 1840 or 1850. Most often it is made of cut granite measuring 3'x3' but there are many stone arches that can easily be walked through. Literally a cool thing to do on a hot summer afternoon with the proper gear of course. I think of the effort made by both engineers and stone masons alike so many years ago and I am amazed, but now they only support themselves and some walkers.
When I was doing my mandatory military service in 2008-2009, Estonia, we used culverts to cross roads while remaining harder to see. Not the originally intended use, but works well enough in some cases.
My bro is a marine for USA and he said when we went to Estonia that everyone was super tall . That no one drinks cold drinks and that theres these weird chocolate cheese candies
@@lancelotkillz we are a fairly tall people, I'm 6'2, my brother is 6'3, dad is 6'0.
Don't know about people not drinking cold drinks in the summer people definitely do, but ice usually isn't put in them.
The chocolate cheese things are really nice snacks, kohuke is the local name for them if you want to look em up.
@@lancelotkillz The Dutch are also a tall people.
You: Whats a culver?
Me: Home of the delicious butter burger and concrete mixer.
Grady: Slaps forhead.
90% of comments: Post 10
9% of comments: MORE POST 10 COMMENTS
1% of comments: Normal comments
I was out hiking with my family yesterday and noticed a partially buried pipe running under the trail, diverting some water from uphill. I asked everyone if they knew what that was -- "it's a pipe" was the response. Ahem -- now my family knows what a culvert is! Thank you for your continued focus on education, Grady. Keep up the good work!
This is the best need channel out there. All other information based videos provide too much filler material, try to be too quirky, and not as informative and entertaining too watch. Most others just talk and no demonstration, animation, or b-roll which makes it extremely boring.
Keep up the great work, really love the videos!
I finally understand why the yard, at my old house as a kid, would always flood. We had a poorly designed culvert.
A: Waterways that are commonly featured on Post10 RUclips user's channel.
Post10 was the first thing I thought of when I saw this in my feed. Drain it!
Was looking for this comment hehe
Was going to comment this lmao
I would say a lot of the ones in post10's channel are culverts where the government has not been maintaining them too well
The anonymous flood control hero. Love his videos. So satisfying.
One of my uncles was a surveyor and a civil engineer. He was hired to plat out a small subdivision around a golf course. Because he could, when he turned in the papers he also marked where culverts needed to be and how big they needed to be if an area was going to be filled. The main entry was a whopper. A huge area outside the development drained across the temporary road that was in place to get the golf course and it's infrastructure built. He calculated that they needed at least 4 6' culverts to survive a 20 year flood, the then current code minimum. He suggested that a bridge would be better both esthetically and practically as it would also eliminate a golf cart path crossing the main entrance road. The developer ignored this and had some 4' culvert delivered. My uncle told him, and followed up in writing both to him and the county that 4 4' culverts would wash out on average every 5 years and did not meet code. They built a grand entrance gate and only installed 3 of the 4 culverts. The road washed out 2 months later, taking the grand entrance gate with it and the water backed up and flooded the $4M clubhouse before the road washed out. When the road gave way the water ripped the clubhouse off its foundation and tore it to bits. They tried to sue him over that and lost big time. The development failed and to this day some 40 years later there is nothing there but some dried up golf hazards and the foundation of a $4M clubhouse. When you hire good people, make sure you listen to them. Had the just left the road on the temporary road's grade it would have flooded the road and maybe washed away some of the pavement, but the clubhouse and the grand entrance gate would have been fine and the development might have succeeded.
Respect to your uncle!
I love how this channel opens people’s eyes to what true infrastructure is and how vital it is for our country!
When I was a wee lad I was absolutely obsessed with culverts. I'd gotten into model trains but I wasn't too big on the trains themselves; the terrain was the most fascinating thing to me. I built little culverts out of foam board, poured plaster culverts, went to the model shop and bought little culvert kits. I don't know why I loved them so much, it was just such an interesting feature of the landscape to me. This video was such a treat! I never knew how complex those unassuming water tubes could be.
This is so wonderfully done. Thank you very much.
You should do a video with Post 10
"What is this thing that clears culverts?" It's a Post 10......
You should make a follow up video collaborating with Post 10, RUclips’s culvert expert.
When i get stressed out over watching videos of wives cheating. The husband believing there excuses. Giving them a second, third, fourth, etc. I have to watch his videos to relax and thats the truth
I love how you explain in easy to understand terms and your use of models.
Thanks, Grady!
This brings back memories. One of my manuals in my library was the book with the nomographs. Used it many times. Left it for the young engineers when I retired. Now it is all computer programs, course my college education through my MS degree was all slide rules and did not see a handheld calculator till my first job. Times have changed.
"I'll use these googly eyes to mark height of the water."
Me: *cries with joy*
😂😂😂😂
who watches post 10's videos of him clearing culverts and drains.
Pretty much everybody, that's why RUclips brought us here.
Ah I see you're a man of culture as well.
Yeah, I thought of him :D
yes!! i was thinking how much he would love this video lol
Me
"Cul - Vert.. Cul - Vert.... Sounds like the Dutch word for 'Crotch Rot.'" Sorry, couldn't resist.
lowell mayfield
If you get a dead rat caught in a fields 3 inch culver it smells like crotch rot
"Nobody ever walked around talking about the majestic culverts of Spain!"
"..Who the hell goes around talking about majestic culverts?"
[scrolling through comments to find this] 😄
Damn it someone already beat me to it! lol. I love that show, too.
Well when you write it that way ... in french what you are writing means "Green ass" XD
Post 10 has the ultimate expertise of culverts.
Thanks for this!
I know it’s mundane, but I’ve always been fascinated by culverts as they’re quite prolific here in Oregon and the PNW in general. I’ve grown up seeing them in all configurations and in all levels of rainfall so I’ve walked through massive empty culverts in the summer and seen relatively small culvert exits shooting water at high speeds during heavy rain.
As a kid, you kinda wonder things like how deep they go and how far they travel, what it’s like for bugs who get sucked into them, etc. so learning all of this stuff really elucidates my lifelong curiosity!
Hey just so you know there is a channel called "What is Engineering" that is literally stealing all youre videos
Wtf
Post10 has entered the chat .
2:47
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I wonder how many of those there are
I love turning on subtitles for your videos. I get extra insights sometimes and even a joke or two that was left out.
I find these sorts of everyday, underappreciated, "dull" things really fascinating. This was a great watch.
but who keeps culverts clean? Post10
whoeveriam0iam14222 ...👍 I sent post10 the link. I hope he sees it.
@@blipco5 I mostly hope people check out his channel coming from this channel/video. such satisfying videos when he cleans up the flood
@@whoeveriam0iam14222 What an age we live in when a dude who clears storm drains becomes an internet celebrity. Thinking about it, that's one of the AWESOME things about the age we live in 😂
I already know what a culvert is and how much they fail from Post 10 😂
I hear ya 😁😁😁😁
Will I ever use this knowledge? No
Will I still watch the video? Of course
Been watching alot of culvert videos lately ... so glad one is finally yours!
I have installed so many culverts in my life and never understood the engineering behind them until now. Thanks for teaching me something new.
Nobody:
Practical Engineering: Has favorite portions of a 320 page book on highway culverts
normal people: a pipe under the road is boring
Post10: Would like to know your location
Me: let me watch something
RUclips: culverts?
Me: ... I guess so
Grady, I truly enjoy both the educational and entertainment value of your video postings. This one on culverts has a large and significant omittance: Every one of the culvert you displayed was a barrier to fish and wildlife passage. While the engineering of culverts is well represented, it should be noted that installing culverts on living systems, such as streams and creeks, is not always done by the engineering community in ways that are cooperative with other objectves that stream managers may have, including the propagation and sustainment of native aquatic species. Thanks for posting all your videos and I suggest this only as constructive criticism.
When I was younger a culvert near my house would fill 1/2 way up during the winter and freeze over, so me and my neighbors would sprint as fast as we can and then dive and we would slide through it. Thanks for bringing back so much fun memories:)
Post 10 baby!
lol i just stumbled on this video and first thing i though was i'm going to the comments for Post 10
This should have been a collab with post10.
I think everyone had wanted to crawl through one of these bad boys at some point 😂
This is so cool. This channel has been a blessing. Endless entertainment. I could watch these for hours.
Hey. I watched a few of your videos and i find it amazing that you also give the source of each topic.
My wife caught me watching this, and said, "FINALLY a proper use for blue water..." Is that a feminine products joke, she made?
Kevin Persinger perhaps. From what I have learned from tv. Blue water comes out of babies which is why they need diapers.
A lot of commercials for tampons and similar product are too squeamish to actually show something that resembles blood so they use blue water instead. Some company recently used red water and I remember that being a whole thing where some people were upset about it, most people though appreciated it especially since it's way more useful information.
@@ericolens3 Orange is trump.
Which you technically sort of got right. 😄
You forgot this one 🍺
Grady: Culverts are facinating!
Me: Googly Eyes!
What even is a culvert
Me: well well well lets find out
Mr Peanutbutter: let's find out
Another excellent video, it's amazing how these seemingly simple structures have so much engineering behind them
I notice so much more in the world the more I learn from this channel and channels like it. Keep up the good work 🤙