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The pier scour caused by flood waves is analyzed, introducing the dimensionless effective work by the flow on the sediment bed around the pier, W*. The three-parameter exponential function is adopted to relate the normalized scour depth Z* with W*. A nov

The time-dependent bridge pier scour during flood waves is analysed. Scour experiments were conducted in a novel installation able to produce complex hydrographs with high precision. Experimental data were used to test scour formulas including a new mathematical model. Results confirm the reliability and superior performance of the proposed dimensionless, effective flow work based model under steady and unsteady hydraulic conditions. Analyses highlight the impact of different hydrographs on scour, demonstrating the strong control by the hydrograph shape of the temporal evolution of scour depth and scour rate, although final scour after a flood only depends on the total effective flow work exerted by the hydrograph on the sediment bed. Hysteresis between flow discharge and scour rate is reported and explained. Flow acceleration is shown to play a minor role in scouring. The proposed model is a promising alternative for computation of local scour under highly unsteady hydraulic conditions.

The local scour process during flood waves is modeled introducing the idea of an effective work by the flow on the sediment bed around the pier. Dimensional considerations show different possible formulations for the dimensionless effective flow work W* that, in each case, is shown to be a generalization of the flow intensity concept, commonly used in existing scour formulas. A novel experimental installation able to reproduce any hydrograph with high precision in the laboratory flume is used to carry out steady and unsteady flow experiments in order to calibrate and validate the mathematical model. Results confirm the uniqueness of the relationship between the dimensionless, effective flow work W* and the relative scour depth Z*, highlighting the high predictive capacity of scour depth caused by any hydrograph. The proposed model provides good performances allowing a straightforward prediction of maximum scour depth and its evolution.

Scales involved in bridge pier scour include the Reynolds number, the Froude number, and the ratio of the pier to the sediment diameter, among others. Consequently, it is not possible to achieve perfect similitude, and thus scale effects between model and prototype arise. In fact, these scale effects distort the scour estimations typically used in hydraulic design of bridges, as scour formulas are based mainly on results from scour experiments at the laboratory scale. In this paper, proper scales of the flow, sediment, and scour are derived theoretically. The suitability of these scales to achieve perfect similitude of scour is tested through carefully designed laboratory experiments conducted in three different flumes having different sizes and piers of different diameters, with five bed materials of different sizes and densities. Results show that the dimensionless effective flow work, W* is a suitable criteria for scaling the effects of river flows on the local scour process around a pier in a bed composed by grains represented by the dimensionless grain diameter D*. In this context, scale effects of the ratio of the pier to the sediment diameter is quantified and shown to be negligible.

Experiments on scour at bridge piers were carried out in a sediment recirculating flume with a bed of polystyrene particles. The focus of the research reported in this paper was given to live-bed experiments. All experiments were run until equilibrium conditions with flow velocities u ranging from 0.8–8.5 times the critical velocity for the incipient motion of sediment particles uc. Maximum scour depth was continuously measured with an endoscopic camera from inside the pier, which was constructed by a plexiglass cylinder. Bed load transport with dunes was identified as the main transport mode for 1