The instrumentation consisted of hydraulic earth pressure cells, deformation and temperature measurements.
The long-term observations of earth pressure and deformation are presented, and compared with a simplified design method and finite element modelling using the finite element program, Plaxis 2D for the box culvert. The third instrumented structure is a concrete box culvert with width 2.0 m beneath 11 m of silty clay. The second full-scale test is a concrete pipe with diameter 1.71 m beneath a 15 m high rock-fill embankment. The first instrumented culvert is a concrete pipe with diameter 1.95 m beneath a 14 m high rock-fill embankment. The method involves installing a compressible inclusion (EPS Geofoam) above rigid culverts in order to reduce the vertical earth pressure. The culverts were built and instrumented during the period 1988–1992. Three instrumented full-scale tests using geofoam (expanded polystyrene) for load reduction on buried rigid culverts are described.
