Scour Level II Assessment of U.S. Army Installation Bridge Facility Number: BRG15 Fort Stewart, Georgia
Abstract
The most common cause of bridge failure is flood scouring of the streambed material from around the structures foundations. Several researchers have suggested that the leading cause of bridge collapse is scour. This is the engineering term used to describe the natural process that involves the removal of sediment from around the bridges structure, such as abutment walls and pier columns, and from the bottom and sides of the streambed due to the flow of water. The aim of this project is to develop analytical calculations by using acquired data to deter-mine scour depth for 100-year and 500-year events or overtopping floods. The current method implemented to predict the scour depth for U.S. Army bridges is based on the general guidelines within the Hydraulic Engineering Circulars (HECs) No.18 and No. 20 recommended by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). Bridge scour is a combination of natural processes that involves hydrology, river hydraulics, geo-morphology, and the geometry of the structures. Hence, in order to implement the current procedure, it was necessary to perform reviews of historical field channel profiles, hydrologic analysis based on rainfall events at the bridge location, hydraulics assessment based on the flood flow, and laboratory testing of soil properties. Water-surface profiles and the components of scour depths -- such as total scour, contraction scour, and pier and abutment scour -- were determined for the bridge.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 01, 2019
- Accession Number
- AD1068787
Entities
People
- Deborah Suazo-davila
- Shelia M. Arias-roman
Organizations
- Engineer Research and Development Center