An Evaluation of the Stream Simulation Culvert Design Method in Washington State

Stream simulation has become an increasingly common culvert design method around the world. It is based on the assumption that geologic and hydraulic conditions in natural channels define passage characteristics for migrating fish and that water crossing structures that imitate these conditions can then achieve those same passage characteristics. This study expands on an initial evaluation of 19 culverts in 2003 to 50 culverts and includes methods and analyses comparing hydraulic characteristics based on cross sections, profile variation, and bed texture between each culvert and its paired reference reach situated in an adjacent section of the natural channel of each stream. Taken as a group, these culverts simulate bed texture, 100‐year recurrence interval flood velocity and 2‐year flood width but did not simulate thalweg complexity or other hydraulic metrics. Culvert span, relative to the bankfull width of the stream, does not by itself determine whether the culvert simulates the reference reach. Of the 50 culverts, many of which experienced record floods, only one showed significant bed degradation.