Maximum scour depth at bridge abutments terminating in the floodplain zone

Abstract

Most previous laboratory studies of local scour at bridge abutments were performed in rectangular channels in which the distributions of flow velocity and bed shear stress were considered uniform in the transverse direction. In reality, however, bridge abutments usually terminate in the flood plain zone of rivers where velocity and shear stress are not uniformly distributed. This paper presents the results of a laboratory study performed to investigate the impact of lateral momentum of flow intercepted by abutment and flow related to a specific channel width at the abutment end, is a significant parameter to account for lateral momentum transfer and should be incorporated in the scour prediction formulation. Also, based on the discharge ratio, Froude number, and critical Froude number associated with the sediment size, a relationship for predicting maximum local scour depth at bridge abutments was proposed. (A)