Prediction of local scour depth of sea-crossing bridges based on the energy balance theory

ABSTRACT

Local scour of piers is a potential danger threatening the operational safety of the sea-crossing bridge. Reliable scour depth prediction of piers can make the economic maintenance of the sea-crossing bridge. Considering the Hangzhou Bay Sea-crossing Bridge as the research prototype, based on the measured data and numerical simulation, the flow-field structure in front of the pier and the shape of the scour hole around the pier are simplified, and the prediction equation of the maximum depth of local scour is derived based on the energy balance theory. Based on the measured data, the equation is verified and compared with the local scour calculation equation in the design code, and the sensitivity of the parameters in the equation is analyzed. The results reveal that the equation is feasible and accurate and can provide guidelines for future decision-making regarding the early warning and maintenance of local scour of sea-crossing bridges.

KEYWORDS:

• Sea-crossing bridge
• pier
• local scour
• energy balance
• scour depth prediction

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

All data, models, and code generated or used during the study appear in the published article.

Additional information

Funding

This research was financially supported by the Key R&D Program Projects in Zhejiang Province (2019C03098), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (52078461, U1709207), and the Program for Science and Technology of Zhejiang Provincial Department of Transportation (2020062).