Effect of sand mining on the flow hydrodynamics around an oblong bridge pier

Extraction of sand from riverbed has catastrophic repercussions on aquatic animalia habitat, water quality, and the environment. Alongside, physical alterations in the fluvial hydraulics arising on account of sand mining are also worthy of attention. Flows passing over the pits excavated in a channel have enhanced erosive propensity, which can be a cause of concern for the downstream hydraulic structures. The complex nature of flow interacting with the bridge piers after passing over a mining pit is not fully understood. Experiments were conducted to apprehend the effects of a dredged pit on the turbulence flow-field around an oblong pier. Flow was passed in an erodible sand bed rectangular channel having an oblong pier for the first case. In the second case, a pit was dredged in the mobile bed to replicate a mined channel, and the pier was subjected to the same discharge. The streambed at the approach of the pier experiences greater mean bed shear because of dredging. The amplification of the instantaneous bed shear beneath the turbulent horseshoe vortex (THSV) zone at the pier front is almost twice due to channel dredging. The findings can be useful in understanding the streambed instabilities around bridge piers in mining-infested channels.

The effect of collar width ratio on the flow pattern around oblong pier in bend

In this paper, the effect of collar width ratio on the flow pattern around an oblong pier in a 180-degree channel bend was experimentally studied. This channel has a rectangular cross section. It is 1 m in width and 0.7 m in height. The upstream and downstream paths are respectively 6.5 and 5 m long. The ratio of the bend's central curvature radius to the channel width is 2; hence, it qualifies as a sharp bend. Experiments were carried out under clear water approach flow conditions. The results showed that the presence of collars around an oblong pier creates vortices in the opposite direction of the longitudinal flow, causes the distortion and disturbance of the streamlines toward the pier downstream, and decreases downflow strength in front of the pier nose. Furthermore, doubling the collar width results in 0.68 and 0.93 times the vorticity and the power of the secondary flow on the pier upstream, respectively. It also reduced the maximum values of the Reynolds stresses perpendicular to the y-plane in x direction and perpendicular to the z-plane in y direction by respectively 45 and 60%, and increased the Reynolds stress perpendicular to the z-plane in x direction by 25%.

CFD-DEM Two-Way Coupled Numerical Simulation of Bridge Local Scour Behavior under Clear-Water Conditions

Bridge local scour involves extremely complex interactions among the flow, the sediments, and the pier. Our understanding of the underlying mechanism, especially at the microscale, is far from complete. The newly emerged multiphase numerical simulation overcomes the technical limitations imposed on physical experiments. To advance knowledge of the sediment dynamics under turbulent junction flows, this paper employed a CFD-DEM two-way coupled numerical model to simulate the local scour behavior of uniform spherical mass particles around an oblong pier. In this coupled system, the flow phase was described as a continuum by a detached eddy simulation (DES) model, and motion of the discrete particles was governed by Newton’s laws of motion (DEM). The flow–sediment interactions were directly considered through the momentum exchange between the two phases. The two-way coupled model was shown to successfully capture microscopic sediment dynamics similar to those observed in the literature. Sediment grains in the bed-load layer were shown to be eroded in the form of sliding and saltation. The erosional forces acting on two representative target particles, together with their correspondent motions/trajectories, provide valuable insights into the mechanism that dictates the scour initiation.

Advanced characterization techniques of the scour hole around a bridge pier model

Local scouring around bridge foundations is a major reason for bridge collapse worldwide. It occurs due to the formation of vortices around bridge foundations as a result of changing the unidirectional approach flow into the three-dimensional field in an erodible channel bed, leading to the development of a scour hole in its vicinity. In the present work, two different techniques were applied for a full characterization of the scour hole geometry developed in a sand bed flume experiment by means of a Kinect sensor and a close-range photogrammetry. These advanced survey and sensor technologies offer efficient techniques of deriving point clouds and Digital Elevation Models (DEMs), respectively. The potential, limitations and results of both techniques are herein examined and conveniently compared, including a description of measurement devices, reference points and respective software. Reliable and accurate estimates of the topographic representation of the scour hole and inherent features were obtained. The design of the bridge pier used, with a 0.14 m wide rectangular round-nose concrete column (henceforth termed as oblong pier), replicates the typical shape used in the 19th and 20th centuries, and are the most common in Portugal.