Effect of Bridge Piers Inclination and Roughness on Scour Pit Dimensions

Abstract

In this paper a laboratory work was performed to study the effect of bridge piers inclination and surface roughness on scour pit dimensions. Fifty four experiments were conducted using three different sizes and inclinations Pier models fixed in a sandy bed channel. First, the axis of the pier was parallel to the flow, then it was inclined by 30° and finally by 45°. Each model was tested under three different flow discharges for a period not less than two hours and at the end of each experiment the dimensions of the scour pit were measured. The same experiments were repeated after roughening the surface of each pier by fine gravel of 2mm in diameter to increase its roughness. The results of the experiment showed a clear reduction in scour pit dimensions after increasing pier roughness, the percentage of decreases in scour depth was between 2 % and 61%, while the scour length decreased between 2.5% and 22%, and finally the width of scour decreases was between 3% and 19.7%. The results also showed that the inclination of pier’s axis produced an increase in scour pit dimensions. Finally, the empirical relationships of the results showed that it’s possible to explain the relation between the flow discharge and each of scour pit dimensions by a simple linear equation, where the determination coefficient were more than 0.94 for all relations.