Service Life of Corroding Galvanized Culverts Embedded in Controlled Low-Strength Materials

Abstract

The service life of culverts is often defined by the time, or some factor thereof, in which it takes for corrosion to perforate the pipe material. Significant work has been performed in developing and modifying existing models to accurately predict the service life of these culverts for different environments. These existing models are often used for engineered backfill materials, i.e., materials other than natural soils. Limited work has been performed on whether the existing models can adequately predict the service life of culvert materials embedded in engineered fill materials. This research investigated the corrosion performance of galvanized steel culvert embedded in 13 different controlled low-strength materials (CLSM). A model was developed to predict the service life, using statistically significant variables, of galvanized steel culverts embedded in CLSM. The results indicate that existing models for the service life estimates of galvanized culvert embedded in soil are not correlated to the service life model developed in this research and that existing models should not be used for culverts embedded in CLSM.