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Prediction of scour depth and dune morphology around circular bridge piers in seepage affected alluvial channels

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Abstract

Prediction of scour depth is one of the most significant problems in designing of bridges. Due to complexity of scour phenomenon, available empirical equations do not always offer accurate scour depth prediction. In this work, experiments were conducted on non-uniform sands using two piers of different diameter with and without seepage conditions. It has been found that, the scour depth at upstream of piers is decreased with application of downward seepage. The observed scour depths are compared with scour depth predicted by various prediction methods and it has been observed that the available equations are not suitable for seepage conditions. The present work thus introduces a new empirical equation for prediction of scour depth at piers with inclusion of seepage. The features of migrating dune like bedforms at downstream of piers due to deposition of scoured bed material are also explored. Height of deposition is found to be increased with downward seepage. The empirical equation describing morphology of dunes behind piers is also developed by incorporating downward seepage parameter.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Guwahati, 781039, India

    Rutuja Chavan & Bimlesh Kumar

Authors
  1. Rutuja Chavan
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  2. Bimlesh Kumar
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Bimlesh Kumar.

Appendix

Appendix

See Table 7.

Table 7 Experimental results of dune geometry
Full size table

Glossary

Al

Alignment factor

b

Width of pier

B

Distance between consecutive piers

ds

Scour depth

D

Diameter of pier

Fd

Froude number

Fdc

Critical Froude number

h

Flow depth

HD

Height of dune

KI

Flow intensity factor

Ks

Pier shape factor

Kα

Pier alignment factor

Kbed

Bed condition factor

R

Hydraulic radius

Re

Reynolds number

Res

Seepage Reynolds number

Sh

Shape factor

U

Average velocity

Ucr

Critical velocity

XD

Streamwise distance of dune crest from pier

d50

Median sand diameter

Vs

Seepage velocity

σg

Standard deviation

g

Gravitational acceleration

υ

Kinematic viscosity

α

Blockage ratio

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Chavan, R., Kumar, B. Prediction of scour depth and dune morphology around circular bridge piers in seepage affected alluvial channels. Environ Fluid Mech 18, 923–945 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10652-018-9574-z

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