Shear Stress around Vertical Wall Abutments

Abstract

Shear stress distribution around vertical wall abutments is studied experimentally, and maximum shear stresses that occur at the upstream corner of vertical wall abutments are determined. Shear stress distributions are presented for Froude numbers ranging from 0.30 to 0.90 and for protrusion ratios (ratio of protrusion length perpendicular to direction of flow to total channel width) of 0.1, 0.2, and 0.3. Shear stress at the nose region of an abutment can be expressed as the sum of stresses due to contraction and the abutment structure alone. An expression for the nose shear amplification factor, Λ