Scour depth at inclined bridge piers along a straight path: A laboratory study

Scouring threatens the stability of hydraulic structures in different ways, mostly through erosion. This study aims to examine the effect of bridge pier inclination angle on the scouring process by conducting tests along a straight channel in a Plexiglas laboratory flume. To this end, cylindrical piers with four different inclination angles were placed in the flume along a straight channel and tests were conducted at four different flow rates under clear water conditions. Evenly graded sand (D50 = 1.46 mm) was used as flume bed material. The obtained results showed that the maximum and minimum scouring depths occurred at pier angles of 0 and 15 respectively. Similar to the scoured depth, dimensions of the scoured hole decreased with increasing pier angle (i.e., changing the pier orientation with respect to the flow direction).