iosr-JMCE   Volume-23 ~ Issue-5 ~ Sep. – Oct. 2026

Abstract: Reinforced concrete box culverts are the most numerous cross-drainage structures on road networks, and a growing share of them are built at an angle to the carriageway because of stream alignment, land constraints or existing services. Design practice for these skew boxes still leans on two-dimensional rigid-frame analysis, while external lateral buttresses that stiffen the side walls have been suggested but scarcely examined. This paper presents a critical review of experimental, field and numerical research relevant to the structural behaviour of straight and skew box culverts, drawing mainly on work indexed in Scopus....

Keywords: Box culvert; Skew angle; Lateral buttress; Soil-structure interaction; Live load distribution; Finite element modelling; Review

[1] Indian Roads Congress, Guidelines for the Design of Small Bridges and Culverts, IRC:SP:13-2004. New Delhi, India: IRC, 2004.
[2] M. M. Sabouri Ghannad, H. Yuan, M. Shahawy, and Z. Liang, "Load rating of cast-in-place reinforced concrete box culverts: State-of-the-art review," Transp. Res. Rec., vol. 2679, no. 10, pp. 807-839, 2025, doi: 10.1177/03611981251343617.
[3] T. A. Wood, W. D. Lawson, P. W. Jayawickrama, and C. D. Newhouse, "Evaluation of production models for load rating reinforced concrete box culverts," J. Bridge Eng., vol. 20, no. 1, Art. no. 04014057, 2015, doi: 10.1061/(ASCE)BE.1943-5592.0000638.
[4] C. Menassa, M. Mabsout, K. Tarhini, and G. Frederick, "Influence of skew angle on reinforced concrete slab bridges," J. Bridge Eng., vol. 12, no. 2, pp. 205-214, 2007, doi: 10.1061/(ASCE)1084-0702(2007)12:2(205).
[5] H. Huang, H. W. Shenton, and M. J. Chajes, "Load distribution for a highly skewed bridge: Testing and analysis," J. Bridge Eng., vol. 9, no. 6, pp. 558-562, 2004, doi: 10.1061/(ASCE)1084-0702(2004)9:6(558).

Abstract: This investigation focused on studying the bending capacity of double-layer reinforced concrete beam using river gravel and crushed granite. The primary objective is to determine the factors influencing the bending capacity of double-layer beams and analyze their behavior under different loading conditions. By understanding the factors influencing bending capacity, a prototype beam was design to enhance the overall strength and performance of the reinforced concrete beam. The production of this double layer RC beams. Ten (10) simply supported RC prototype beams (1000x75x112 mm) were subjected to laboratory study.....

Keywords: River gravel, cement, concrete beam, bending capacity.

[1]. American Concrete Institute (ACI). (2019). ACI 318-19: Building Code Requirements for Structural Concrete and Commentary. ACI, Farmington Hills, MI.
[2]. ASTM International. (2016). ASTM C33/C33M-16: Standard Specification for Concrete Aggregates. ASTM International, West Conshohocken, PA.
[3]. ASTM International. (2021). ASTM C39/C39M-21: Standard Test Method for Compressive Strength of Cylindrical Concrete Specimens. ASTM International, West Conshohocken, PA.
[4]. AL-Farttoosi, H. K. A., Hussain, H. K., & Abdulrazzaq, O. A. (2021). Flexural behavior of two-layer beams made with normal and lightweight concrete layers. Periodicals of Engineering and Natural Sciences, 9(2), 1124–1140.
[5]. AL-Farttoosi, H. K. A., Abdulrazzaq, O. A., & Hussain, H. K. (2022). Shear behavior of two-layer beams made of normal and lightweight concrete layers. Basrah Journal for Engineering Sciences, 22(1), 115–128.

Abstract: Bank erosion and sediment deposition along tropical deltaic distributaries threaten land, infrastructure and navigation, yet physically based bank-stability models are difficult to parameterize where field data are sparse. This paper reports a deliberately compact artificial neural network that predicts bank erosion and sediment deposition simultaneously along a 5,000 m reach of the Erowha River, a distributary of the Forcados system in Delta State, Nigeria. A total of 101 chainage-referenced stations (L1–L101) at 50 m intervals were surveyed during the wet season, yielding paired measurements of channel geometry, bank slope, velocity, discharge, angle of internal friction, cohesion.....

Keywords: artificial neural network; multilayer perceptron; bank erosion; sediment deposition; model parsimony; Niger Delta

[1]. Akana, T. S., & Adeigbe, O. C. (2020). Channel characteristics and planform dynamics of the lower Niger River, Niger Delta Basin (1985–2015). Geology Geophysics and Environment, 45(4), 291. https://doi.org/10.7494/geol.2019.45.4.291
[2]. AlDahoul, N., Ahmed, A. N., Allawi, M. F., Sherif, M., Sefelnasr, A., Chau, K., & El‐Shafie, A. (2022). A comparison of machine learning models for suspended sediment load classification. Engineering Applications of Computational Fluid Mechanics, 16(1), 1211–1232. https://doi.org/10.1080/19942060.2022.2073565
[3]. AlDahoul, N., Essam, Y., Kumar, P., Ahmed, A. N., Sherif, M., Sefelnasr, A., & El‐Shafie, A. (2021). Suspended sediment load prediction using long short-term memory neural network. Scientific Reports, 11(1), 7826. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-87415-4
[4]. Alruzuq, A., & Mossa, J. (2025). Machine learning algorithms of riverbed change and environments of the Lower Apalachicola River. Discover Applied Sciences, 7(5).
[5]. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42452-025-06810-y.

Abstract: Background: Jute fiber can alter concrete placement behavior, but reduced fresh density alone does not demonstrate lightweight concrete. This study examined the effects of jute fiber length and dosage on slump and fresh density. Materials and Methods: Concrete mixtures were prepared using volumetric mix proportions of 1:1.5:3 and 1:2:4, incorporating jute fibers of three lengths.....

Keywords: Jute fiber; fiber-modified concrete; workability; slump; fresh density; water-to-cement ratio

[1] American Concrete Institute (n.d.-a) ‘Lightweight concrete’, Topics in Concrete. Available at: https://www.concrete.org/topicsinconcrete/topicdetail.aspx?search=Lightweight+Concrete (Accessed: 12 October 2026).
[2] American Concrete Institute (n.d.-b) ‘How is the slump test made?’, Frequently Asked Questions, FAQ 818. Available at: https://www.concrete.org/frequentlyaskedquestions/faqid/818.aspx (Accessed: 10 October 2026).
[3] Asaduzzaman, S.M. and Islam, G.M.S. (2023) ‘Using jute fiber to improve fresh and hardened properties of concrete’, Journal of Natural Fibers, 20(2).
[4] ASTM International (1996) ASTM D1895: Standard test methods for apparent density, bulk factor, and pourability of plastic materials. West Conshohocken, PA: ASTM International.
[5] ASTM International (1997) ASTM C29: Standard test method for bulk density (unit weight) and voids in aggregate. West Conshohocken, PA: ASTM International.