Culverts are essential parts of the lock and navigation structures. They transfer water between upper and lower chambers, lakes, rivers and/or ocean side of the navigation system. A system of bulkheads and valve gates control the transfer of water in these culverts during operation and maintenance. These gates are designed to withstand the hydrostatic and transient pressure loads. A phenomenon that is, however, usually overlooked in the design is the hydrodynamic pressure that is built up in the system during an earthquake. This pressure is caused by the seismic acceleration and could be higher than hydrostatic pressure in a severe earthquake. In this paper a set of simulation results using Abaqus/Explicit are presented for hydraulic culvert models to investigate the pressure caused by an earthquake.
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