Local Scour around Bridge Piers under Ice-Covered Conditions

Abstract

An experimental study evaluated the local scour caused by flow past bridge piers in a channel covered by ice. Results show that ice cover affects the scour characteristics, especially at lower flow depths. In the range of test conditions used in the study, with the increase in relative bed coarseness, dimensionless scour depth decreases correspondingly. Including scour radius as an indicator brings forward a new perspective for scour estimation. Furthermore, empirical equations for both scour depth and scour radius are developed under both open channel and ice-covered flow conditions. Present equations are also supported by previous findings related to the influence of relative bed coarseness, flow shallowness, and pier Froude number.