Hi!
From what I understand, I think you are willing to use the culvert function outside of its intended use.
The principle of the culvert function is that it computes a discharges through a culvert depending on:
- Invert elevations and water levels and US/DS nodes – water levels are computed with standard SWE in 2D domain
- Head and friction losses along the structure
- Inflow is simulated as a sink point, outflow as a source
- Only one-to-one configuration, that is a single inlet linked to a single outlet (in standard version – modifications might work)
This implies that it is impossible to put two culverts one after the other, especially if willing to use the same node for outlet US culvert and inlet DS culvert, and expect reasonable results.
Another aspect that is important to keep in mind when modelling culverts is that the the discharge through the structure is limited by the available volume in the US cell. Discharge limitation can occur if using a combination of small cell size (eg. small available volume) and large time step (can often be a problem in FE but never is a problem with FV as time step is often small enough).
Regarding the issue about the culvert not behaving as expected in a channel configuration. As described in the principles above, I wouldn’t use a culvert to model a structure that spans over an entire channel. The discharge calculations will be highly dependent on the water elevation at inlet/outlet nodes which will be automatically wrong as those nodes are expected to have the same capacity than the whole channel. There is a high risk that this creates a critical section for example, thus spoiling the results.
Hope it helps!
Kind regards
PL