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• An experimental study and conducted to investigate the sand mining pit modelling. • A two-dimensional meshless depth averaged model was set-up to simulate the experiments. • Numerical and experimental results so that the maximum error was limited to less than 10%. • The results also indicated that for a flood event with a return period of 25 years. • Sand and gravel mining changed the bed profile up to 1.27 m at the bridge foundation. Irregular, unauthorized and non-technical mining of sand and gravel from rivers play an important role in undesirable changes in morphology and environment. The present experimental study investigated sand mining pit modelling in the different scenarios. A two-dimensional flexible mesh, depth averaged model was set-up to simulate the experiments. The results exhibited an acceptable agreement between the numerical and experimental results, so that the maximum error was limited to less than 10%. After verifying the numerical model, a critical reach in Helleh River was selected as a case study. The effect of sand and gravel mining on a bridge at the site was studied. The results also indicated that for a flood event with a return period of 25 years, sand and gravel mining changed the bed profile up to 1.27 m at the bridge foundation. Moreover, initial signs of river meandering emerged in one scenario. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]