Comparing Scour Characteristics Around Different Bridge Piers - A Review

Abstract

The technique of scouring involves removing silt from bridge piers and abutments using the hydraulic force of flowing water. Moved water flows create horseshoe-shaped vortices around bridge supports and piers, leading to a process known as scouring.  Several researchers have investigated experimentally and statistically, the damage that local scour causes to hydraulic and civil infrastructure. Local scour around bridge piers has been highlighted as a complicated process and the challenge of counteracting the local scour impact in comparison to flow hydraulics. In this study, many researchers analyzed several of the numerous variables influencing the scour pattern around piers. The pier's shape, the inclination angle between its axis and the flow direction, the orientation of its piers concerning the flow direction, the size of the bed material, and several other variables. The use of many uniform and complex shapes will contribute varying values to reducing erosion, and studies have agreed that the shape with a higher area will provide a higher depth of souring compared to the smaller area and shapes with smooth or round side corners for values up to 60%.  And about 50% if it uses a permeable-filled stone pier. Additionally, the use of collars will help to reduce scour by up to 90%. By wrapping the pier with a cable at various angles, erosion can be decreased by 52%. As a result, many researchers have developed numerous equations for this subject.