Down-flow and horseshoe vortex characteristics of sediment embedded bridge piers

Abstract

The flow around bridge structures is a recent research topic, given the significance of bridges as basic engineering infrastructures. This study investigates the internal flow features around circular bridge piers by Particle Image Velocimetry applied both in the horizontal and vertical planes and therefore allowing for a quasi-spatial visualization of the velocity field. The temporal evolution of the vertical deflected flow at the pier front and the horseshoe vortex inside the increasing scour hole were explored resulting in the velocity and vorticity profiles. This work, therefore, provides novel insight into the complex and fascinating two-phase flow around circular bridge piers placed in loose sediment and provides an experimental data basis for advanced numerical simulation.

Equilibrium scour depths around piles in noncohesive sediments under currents and waves

“…) and of time-dependent maximum scour depth (Dey, 1999;Melville and Chiew, 1999;Mia and Nago, 2003;Oliveto and Hager, 2002;Yanmaz and Altinbilek, 1991;Zanke, 1982). Others concentrated on the flow field around the cylinder, via experimental measurements (Dey and Raikar, 2007;Graf and Istiarto, 2002;Graf and Yulistiyanto, 1998;Unger and Hager, 2007) and numerical experiments (Gobert et al, 2010;Kirkil et al, 2008Kirkil et al, , 2009Rolound et al, 2005). Link et al (2008) and Diab et al (2010) presented detailed measurements of developing and equilibrium scour holes around cylinders in fine sand and gravel, respectively.…”

Investigation of the relation between bridge pier scour depth and vertical velocity component

“…Afterwards, Dey and Raikar (2007) and Das et al (2013) examined the flow field and turbulence characteristics with ADV around the circular and square bridge piers at scour depths of 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% of the equilibrium scour depths [23], [24]. Unger and Hager (2007) used Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) in examining the flow field characteristics [25]. Diab et al (2009) worked with square bridge piers [26].…”

Experimental Investigation of Turbulent Flow Field at Downstream-Facing Round Nosed Pier

“…The vortices around bridge elements are considered the main cause of local scour. Therefore, it has been investigated intensively in the last years both experimentally and numerically [1][2][3]. While most of the articles focused on scouring around circular pier, only very few studies are focused on scouring around non-circular piers [4][5][6].…”