TITLE:
Utility Impact below Bridge or Culvert Soffit on Open Channel Flow
AUTHORS:
Rodney McDermott, Sarah Quinn
KEYWORDS:
Utility, Bridge, Culvert, Hydraulics, Flooding, Climate Change & Open Channel Flow
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Modern Hydrology,
Vol.13 No.4,
September
5,
2023
ABSTRACT: The background to this research was a flooding incident that occurred in
Bridgend, Co. Donegal, Ireland in August 2017. While several properties were
flooded, a flooding case study of a single dwelling house adjacent to the Bridgend River at Riverdale, Bunamayne, Co. Donegal,
Ireland is used herein. For this study the flooded site shall be referred to as
the “Hegarty property”. A structure in the form of a stone arched culvert is
located directly adjacent to the two-storey detached dwelling house on the
Hegarty Property. While the culvert is referred to locally as a bridge,
within this research the word culvert will be used in connection with the
structure. The culvert has a concrete surrounded utility (watermain) crossing
at a gradient below the culvert soffit on the upstream face of the structure. The utility obstructed flow through the culvert
and contributed to the flooding event. Given the implication of climate change
and the increased probability of more
extreme flooding events, it was decided to explore the case study to ascertain
the factors that contribute to flooding events when utilities are
positioned at culvert or bridge structures. This work was completed to assist
undergraduate students, researchers, and local authorities in a relatively
unknown area of flood causation.