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CFD prediction of local scour hole around bridge piers

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Abstract

In order to predict the local scour hole and its evaluation around a cylindrical bridge pier, the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and theories of sediment movement and transport were employed to carry out numerical simulations. In the numerical method, the time-averaged Reynolds Navier-Stokes equations and the standard k-ɛ model were first used to simulate the three-dimensional flow field around a bridge pier fixed on river bed. The transient shear stress on river bed was treated as a crucial hydrodynamic mechanism when handling sediment incipience and transport. Then, river-bed volumetric sediment transport was calculated, followed by the modification of the river bed altitude and configuration. Boundary adaptive mesh technique was employed to modify the grid system with changed river-bed boundary. The evolution of local scour around a cylindrical bridge pier was presented. The numerical results represent the flow pattern and mechanism during the pier scouring, with a good prediction of the maximum scour hole depth compared with test results.

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Correspondence to Zhi-wen Zhu  (祝志文).

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Foundation item: Project(50978095) supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China; Project(IRT0917) supported by the Program for Changjiang Scholars and Innovative Research Team in Chinese University; Project supported by China Scholarship Council

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Zhu, Zw., Liu, Zq. CFD prediction of local scour hole around bridge piers. J. Cent. South Univ. Technol. 19, 273–281 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11771-012-1001-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11771-012-1001-x

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