Local scour prediction around piers with complex geometry

ABSTRACT A laboratory study of local scour at complex piers under steady clear-water conditions is presented. The term complex piers is used to define a bridge pier comprising of a column, pile cap, and pile group. Comprehensive data over the full range of possible pile cap elevations for complex piers with different geometries were obtained using five complex pier models, which were scaled down from existing bridges in Malaysia. The data are used to evaluate existing methodologies for characterizing the effective width of complex piers with varying pile cap location relative to the undisturbed streambed. The effect of pile cap location on scour depth is also addressed. To improve the predictions of local scour at complex piers, the new data and some previous data are used to propose a new method to predict local scour depth at complex piers.

[1]  A. J. Sutherland,et al.  DESIGN METHOD FOR LOCAL SCOUR AT BRIDGE PIERS , 1988 .

[2]  Lisa M. Fotherby,et al.  The Influence of Exposed Footings on Pier Scour Depths , 1993 .

[3]  B B Barkdoll,et al.  TIME SCALE FOR LOCAL SCOUR AT BRIDGE PIERS. DISCUSSION AND CLOSURE , 2000 .

[4]  Yu Wang,et al.  Experimental observations and evaluations of formulae for local scour at pile groups in steady currents , 2017 .

[5]  Bruce W. Melville,et al.  Maximum local scour depth at bridge piers and abutments , 1998 .

[6]  Behzad Ataie-Ashtiani,et al.  Experimental Investigation of Clear-Water Local Scour of Compound Piers , 2010 .

[7]  Ashish Kumar,et al.  Three-Dimensional Flow Characteristics within the Scour Hole around Circular Uniform and Compound Piers , 2012 .

[8]  Ata Amini,et al.  Scour depth estimation methods around pile groups , 2015 .

[9]  Bruce W. Melville,et al.  Effects of Foundation Geometry on Bridge Pier Scour , 1996 .

[10]  Bruce W. Melville,et al.  Local scour at piled bridge piers including an examination of the superposition method , 2014 .

[11]  Bruce W. Melville,et al.  BRIDGE PIER SCOUR WITH DEBRIS ACCUMULATION , 1992 .

[12]  Mohammad Najafzadeh,et al.  Experimental Study of Local Scour around a Vertical Pier in Cohesive Soils , 2014 .

[13]  Stephen E. Coleman,et al.  Clearwater Local Scour at Complex Piers , 2005 .

[14]  B. Melville,et al.  TIME SCALE FOR LOCAL SCOUR AT BRIDGE PIERS , 2000 .

[15]  Roger T. Kilgore,et al.  Effects of footing location on bridge pier scour , 1992 .

[16]  Behzad Ataie-Ashtiani,et al.  Experimental Study of Three-Dimensional Flow Field around a Complex Bridge Pier , 2010 .

[17]  Abdul Halim Ghazali,et al.  A local scour prediction method for pile caps in complex piers , 2011 .