Geobag Performance as Scour Countermeasure for Bridge Abutments
Publication: Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 133, Issue 4
Abstract
This paper presents observations and data from a sequence of laboratory experiments conducted to evaluate geobags as a countermeasure to protect bridge-abutment foundations from failure attributable to scour of the alluvial-river channel in which they are placed. Geobags comprise geotextile cloth bags filled with local sediment or concrete. The experiments focused on the performance of geobags placed as an apron around pile-supported wing-wall abutments retaining erodible embankments, and subject to live-bed and clear-water flow conditions. Though an apron of geobags is shown to substantially reduce or eliminate scour immediately at the abutment, the apron must be formed flexibly of linked geobags. Moreover, a performance concern is that the apron may shift scour to a location flanking or downstream of the apron, and in so doing imperil a nearby pier or riverbank. The experiments indicate the importance of protecting the embankment region beneath and immediately behind the abutment’s pile cap. Live-bed conditions proved to be the more critical for abutment protection, owing to the capacity of dunes to destabilize geobags around the edges of the apron. Design guidelines are given and include using current riprap configurations for sizing and placing geobags.
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Acknowledgments
This study was conducted under NCHRP 24-18, Scour Countermeasures for Bridge Abutments.
References
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© 2007 ASCE.
History
Received: Sep 9, 2004
Accepted: Jul 24, 2006
Published online: Apr 1, 2007
Published in print: Apr 2007
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