Application of Particle Densimetric Froude Number for Evaluating the Maximum Culvert Scour Depth

Abstract

This paper presents a compilation of a large database consisting of 588 culvert scour experiments covering a wide combination of different culvert shapes, culvert outlet conditions, and sediment properties. The analysis shows that the maximum scour depth, when normalized with the hydraulic radius, can be expressed reasonably as a linear function of the particle densimetric Froude number for both full-flowing and non-full-flowing outlet conditions. In addition, the sediment nonuniformity effect is also considered by choosing d84 (rather than d50) as the representative grain diameter in the dimensional analysis, which improves the result of the data correlation.