Examination of blockage effects on the progression of local scour around a circular cylinder

Abstract

An evaluation of scour estimation methods has indicated that the effects of blockage ratio are neglected in both scour modelling and development of new predictive methods. The role of channel blockage on the mechanism and progression of local scour is not well understood, and further analysis is required in order to incorporate this effect into scour estimation. In the present investigation, local scour experiments were carried out under varying blockage ratio. The results were compared with data from literature in order to explore the effects of blockage ratio (D/b, where D is the pier diameter, and b is the channel width) on equilibrium scour depth (dse/D, where dse is the depth of scour at equilibrium). It was determined that D/b had a small influence on both dse/D and the progression of scour depth (ds/D) when relative coarseness D/d50 < 100 (where d50 is the median diameter of sediment), and that the influence appeared to be amplified when D/d50 > 100. The efficacy of scour estimation methods used to predict the progression of local scour was also dependent on D/d50. A method of scour estimation used to predict dse/D was evaluated, and it was similarly found to be particularly effective when D/d50 < 100. In future work, further experiments and analysis in the range of D/d50 > 100 are required in order to establish the role of D/b under prototype conditions and to refine existing scour estimation methods.