Velocity Field Characteristics at the Inlet to a Pipe Culvert

A poorly designed culvert inlet structure causes scouring, which can lead to the collapse of the culvert and significant damage to the neighboring land. A set of laboratory tests was evaluated to examine velocity distribution at the culvert inlet. A three-dimensional acoustic Doppler velocimeter was used to measure instantaneous flow velocity upstream of the culvert. The analysis of mean velocities, turbulence strength, and Reynolds stresses was performed to understand the flow structure near the culvert entrance.