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Scours Evolution at Bridge Abutments Under Unsteady Flow Events

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Iranian Journal of Science and Technology, Transactions of Civil Engineering Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Extreme floods become more frequent and is the reason rising load on structures in rivers and the risk to be damaged. The methods of scour calculation at bridge abutments are based on that design flood up to 1% probability (Arneson et al. 2012) accepted by many authors is constant during the maintenance period of the bridge and the equilibrium depth of scour often used for foundation design. Inspite of that equilibrium depth of scour sometimes can be overestimated, because in nature scour is formed under unsteady flow. The bridge abutments usually are constructed on the floodplain, where is no sediment movement, here we considering scour at clear water conditions and estimating scour evolution when sediments are removing out of scour hole. As a basis, the equation of the bed sediment movement was used and a semi-analytical model for computing depth of scour evolution under unsteady flow at the abutments is elaborated. The tests were made in flume for free surface flow conditions, for rigid and sand bed of the bridge crossing model with different contraction rate, depth, discharge, Froude number, steady and unsteady flow, with uniform or stratified bed. To study different parameters impact on scour at the abutment, More than 50 tests were made. Tests results are in good agreement with calculated data by model presented. In the paper is presented the relative local and critical velocities evolution, impact the bed material, flow contraction and unsteady flow on scour depth under clear water conditions at vertical wall abutment.

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Abbreviations

A:

Parameter in the Levi formula

B:

Width of a scour hole

Di :

Constant parameter in steady flow time step

Fr:

Approach flow Froude number upstream of the abutment

L:

Flume width

Lbi :

Width of the bridge model opening

Q:

Flow discharge

Qb :

Discharge through the bridge opening under open-flow conditions

Qc :

Discharge in main channel for uniform flow in compound channel

Qf :

Discharge in approach floodplain

Qs :

Sediment discharge out of the scour hole

Vap :

Mean flow approach velocity

V0 :

Critical velocity at plain bed

V0t :

Critical velocity at any depth of scour

Vl :

Local velocity at plain bed at the corner of the abutment

Vlt :

Local velocity at any depth of scour

b:

Parameter

di :

Grain size of the bed material

g:

Gravitational acceleration

h:

Flow depth

hc :

Flow depth in main channel

hf :

Average depth of the flow in floodplain

hs :

Scour depth

i:

The slope of the river bed

k:

Coefficient of changes in the discharge due to the scour

kal:

Coefficient of the angle of flow crossing

lb :

The width of bridge opening

m:

Steepness of the scour hole

t:

Time

ti :

Time interval

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Water Engineering and Technology, Riga Technical University, Kipsala Str. 6A, Riga, 1048, Latvia

    Boriss Gjunsburgs

  2. Institute of Hydraulic Engineering, Vytautas Magnus University, Universiteto Str.10, 53361, Kaunas, Lithuania

    Algirdas Radzevičius, Raimondas Šadzevičius & Rytis Skominas

Authors
  1. Boriss Gjunsburgs
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  2. Algirdas Radzevičius
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  3. Raimondas Šadzevičius
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  4. Rytis Skominas
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Correspondence to Rytis Skominas.

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Gjunsburgs, B., Radzevičius, A., Šadzevičius, R. et al. Scours Evolution at Bridge Abutments Under Unsteady Flow Events. Iran J Sci Technol Trans Civ Eng 45, 1951–1957 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40996-020-00523-5

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