Numerical Model For Simulation Of Scour Around Bridge Abutment

Scour is the removal of riverbed materials around hydraulic due to various factors. For instance, bridge bases which include piers and abutments, are based on the bottoms of the river, and their interchange with the flow leads to creating a hole near the bridge's abutment, called scour. Moreover, scour at bridge abutments is one of the well-known causes of bridge collapse worldwide, according to many pieces of research in this field. Hence, various numerical and experimental studies were conducted to study scour around the bridge's abutment. In this study, a numerical model was created using FLOW-3D software and employed to simulate the scour under clean water conditions around the bridge abutment based on the experimental. The experimental research was conducted on a flume with 0.5 m in width,13 m in length, and a height of 0.6 m. The study area was full of uniform sediment with 0.00137 m sediment size contented in the metal box 1.2 m long, 0.5 m wide, and 0.20 m thick, located at a 5.3 m distance from the entrance of the flume. The box was packed on the same level as the flume bed level. The bridge abutment was located at the end of the first trimester of the sediment section with square cross sections of the abutment model 0.09 -0.09 m. besides, the simulation focused on the local scour behavior with a 7 cm water depth under clear water conditions. The results show that the numerical modeling can provide an accurate simulation of scour around the abutment, which is essential to study this phenomenon and enhance the sustainability of bridges.