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H-20 loading for PVC pipe 6

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DwattedWabbit

Civil/Environmental
May 13, 2004
119
We are designing a driveway under which we need to put a 12" dia. PVC culvert. Can anyone suggest a website where we can find a table that shows minimum cover for H-10 or H-20 loading, for Sch. 40 PVC or Sch. 80 PVC, etc.?
 
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Have ypou tried searching for the Plastic Pipe Institute or for one of the manufacturerer's such as Uni-Bell ?

Good luck
 
Just to let you know, many municipalities require 15" or 18" culverts, since they are less likely to get plugged up.

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PVC usually needs 3 feet of cover for any kind of stability. Of course you have to backfill properly.
 
Thanks for the pointers. We've ended up changing to ductile iron, but we will still need to find a table with such specs for future jobs.
 
I have not seen a table that will give you the "out right" cover that is required. I have seen design aids that give the design pressure as a function of cover depth for vehicles through pavement.

What I have done in the past is use a pyramid or cone pressure distribution for the wheel load.

Marston and Spangler are the pioneers of the field. You could probably find what you need on the internet.

 
Wouldn't a Corrigated Metal Pipe (CMP) be cheaper than ductile iron and maybe more readily available?
 
The project manager went with ductile iron, which is available enough (we use it for water mains). CMP probably would be cheaper. Not my call, however.

The website referenced by "canman" is appreciated. I've checked it out, and printed out the technical report for future use.

Thanks to everyone for your advice.
 
An online document that covers the loading of buried pipe is the "Performance Pipe Engineering Manual". This is written for (somewhat flexible) polyethylene pipe. However, the techniques to determine vehicular loading are independent of pipe material. Here is a link the the relevant chapter
 
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