Experimental Study on Scour Depth Monitoring of Bridge Foundation Based on Ultrasonic Wave

Abstract

<p>Foundation scour phenomenon is the result of the water current erosion, which could lead to the removal of streambed materials around the foundation of bridge pier or abutment. The structural damage caused by foundation scour usually has no obvious foreboding. It will easily lead to bridge collapse without early warning. Therefore, it is necessary to conduct the real-time monitoring of the foundation scour for bridges. This paper proposed an ultrasonic-based scour monitoring method for the bridge foundation. The local scour test model based on ultrasonic wave method is established by using the glass box in the laboratory. In the test, the possible scour pit is simulated by shaping the fine gravel in the glass box. An acoustic detector made by our research group was used for signal transmitter and receiver in the test. In addition, the influence of different inclination angles of the scour pit on monitoring result is also investigated in this study.</p>