Investigating the Effect of Six-Legged Element Placement Density on Local Scour at Wing-Wall Bridge Abutments

The focus of this study is to investigate the application of six-legged elements around wing-wall abutments experimentally. Six-legged elements have extensively been used for river engineering purposes for scour protection. The experiments were done in a 1m wide laboratory flume with uniform sand material. Four baseline tests were performed in different ratios of flow velocity to critical velocity values (0.65-0.95). The six-legged elements were then placed in three different placement densities on the bed; open (T1), medium (T2), and dense (T3). The amount of created coverage for T1, T2 and T3 densities were 54, 76 and 97 percents, with 63, 76, and 97 pieces respectively. Each alternative was tested under different flow conditions. Generally, the results proved that six-legged elements can considerably reduce the scour depth so as it reduced the maximum scour depth of abutment nose up to 100%. This maximum reduction of scour depth has been obtained when the elements were placed densely. However the extent and intensity of edge failure increased with higher density placements. Displacement of the maximum scour depth from the abutment tip was witnessed during the experiments especially in high Froude numbers. Hence each placement density could leave different effects on the bed topography in the vicinity of the abutment and on the downstream of the bridge; this gives alternatives to the designer for selecting six-legged elements placement densities with respect to the features of each placement density and conditions of the site.

• Record URL:
  https://doi.org/10.1061/9780784479872.004
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/isbn/9780784479872
• Supplemental Notes:
  • © 2016 American Society of Civil Engineers.
• Corporate Authors:

  American Society of Civil Engineers

  1801 Alexander Bell Drive
  Reston, VA  United States  20191-4400
• Authors:
  • Zolghadr, Masih
  • Bejestan, Mahmood Shafai
  • Rezaeianzadeh, Mehdi
• Conference:
  • World Environmental and Water Resources Congress 2016
  • Location: West Palm Beach Florida, United States
  • Date: 2016-5-22 to 2016-5-26
• Publication Date: 2016

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Web
• Features: References;
• Pagination: pp 28-36
• Monograph Title: World Environmental and Water Resources Congress 2016: Hydraulics and Waterways and Hydro-Climate/Climate Change

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Abutments; Bridge abutments; Dislocation (Geology); Froude number; Scour; Stream gages; Streamflow
• Subject Areas: Bridges and other structures; Highways; Hydraulics and Hydrology;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01603224
• Record Type: Publication
• ISBN: 9780784479872
• Files: TRIS, ASCE
• Created Date: May 18 2016 3:09PM