Implementation of an Improved Bridge Scour Prediction Procedure

Details

• Creators:
  Sturm, Terry W. ; Garrow, Laurie A. ; Stoesser, Thorsten ; Harris, Travis
• Corporate Creators:
  Georgia Institute of Technology
• Corporate Contributors:
  Georgia. Department of Transportation. Office of Research ; United States. Federal Highway Administration
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  Bridges Bridge Scour Critical Shear Stress Risk Assessment Scour Sediments Shear Stress Soil Erodibility
• Publication/ Report Number:
  FHWA-GA-RPXX
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  United States ; Georgia
• Edition:
  Final Report
• Corporate Publisher:
  Georgia. Dept. of Transportation. Office of Research
• Abstract:
  This study analyzes sediments that fall in the transition size range between fine and coarse sediments and compares the findings with those from fine sediments (Wang 2013) and sandy coarse sediments (Navarro 2004, Hobson 2008), in order to correlate the erosion rates of both sediment types to their physical characteristics. In this study, kaolinite-sand mixtures were prepared by mixing various percentages of Georgia kaolinite by weight ranging from 30% to 100% with industrial fine sand and tap water. Geotechnical and other tests of sediment properties were performed to measure water content, bulk density, grain size distribution, temperature, pH, and conductivity of these mixtures. Hydraulic flume experiments measured the erosion rates of each sediment and these rates were used to estimate the critical shear stress correlating to that mixture. Relationships between the physical properties of the sediment and critical shear stress were developed by multiple regression analysis. An alternative option of estimating the critical shear stress by a weighted equation, which uses the combination of fine sediment erosion and coarse sediment erosion equations separately, was explored and found to be a viable and accurate option to estimating both coarse and fine sediment erosion from the same parameters and equation. The results from this study can be used to estimate sediment erodibility and thus river bed stability based on simple tests of physical properties of the river bed sediment and will help predict scour around bridges and other flow obstructions.
• Format:
  PDF
• Funding:
  GDOT 12-33
• Collection(s):
  US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:bb247607d426172be3fe681adca75444b2a2549ab7c259fa217618cb8175057d
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/39808/dot_39808_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.34 MB ]