A Review of Bridge Abutment Scour Countermeasures
Publication: World Environmental and Water Resource Congress 2006: Examining the Confluence of Environmental and Water Concerns
Abstract
The ability to protect bridge piers and abutments from scour is critical to bridge safety. Excessive abutment scour can cause high maintenance costs or even bridge collapse resulting in the interruption of traffic and possibly death. Two approaches to scour mitigation have been taken. These are (1) bank-hardening and (2) flow-altering countermeasures. Bank-hardening methods are composed, among others, of riprap, cable-tied blocks, and geobags. Flow-altering countermeasures include spur dikes, guidebanks, parallel walls, and collars. Selection of a countermeasure involves a life-cycle cost assessment for the particular site in question as well as social and environmental issues. Three new countermeasures include parallel walls, spur dikes located locally to the abutment, and horizontal collar-type plates attached to the abutment. All three of these new countermeasures have been proven successful in the laboratory. This work will be detailed in an upcoming report as part of the NCHRP 24-18A project.
Get full access to this chapter
View all available purchase options and get full access to this chapter.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
© 2006 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Published online: Apr 26, 2012
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Architectural engineering
- Benefit cost ratios
- Bridge abutments
- Bridge components
- Bridge engineering
- Bridge failures
- Building management
- Business management
- Cables
- Disaster risk management
- Disasters and hazards
- Engineering fundamentals
- Equipment and machinery
- Failures (by type)
- Financial management
- Hydraulic engineering
- Hydraulic structures
- Hydraulics
- Levees and dikes
- Maintenance and operation
- Man-made disasters
- Piers
- Ports and harbors
- Practice and Profession
- Scour
- Structural engineering
- Water and water resources
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.