Near Real-Time Scour Monitoring System: Application to Indian River Inlet, Delaware
Publication: Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 137, Issue 9
Abstract
Scour hole monitoring is widely used by engineers in reaction to bridge scour. Current monitoring methods lack the ability to observe wide areas on operational time scales. It is imperative that wide areas be observed after channel bed armoring countermeasures are taken because the armoring occupies an area larger than can be observed by traditional single-point scour monitors. The present bridge piers within the Indian River Inlet, Delaware, are adjacent to deep scour holes that threaten the bridge. A new scour monitoring system (SM) using two three-dimensional profiling sonars was installed on the Indian River Inlet Bridge to observe more than of bathymetry daily. The system components, configuration, and operation are described and example data are presented. Bathymetric data collected by the SM compare favorably with historic high-quality multibeam data from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Quantitative correlations with temporally consistent data from a single-beam personal watercraft survey vessel yield an correlation coefficient of 0.84 with 93% of the absolute value of elevation differences between the two data sets less than 3 m.
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Acknowledgments
The authors wish to thank the Delaware Department of Transportation for funding this difficult project. This work was also supported by the University of Delaware. Christina Lindemer and Sam Vaughan assisted with UDoo surveys. Jason Arndt and the Under Bridge Inspection Vehicle (UBIV) team provided support during cable and sensor installation. Dennis Cassidy and his team of divers from Boswell Engineering were responsible for sensor installation and cleaning and assisted in early discussions on the underwater mount and deployment strategy. Gordon Collier and Brian Evans of Marine Electronics are acknowledged for providing technical assistance with the sonars. Comments and constructive criticism by two anonymous reviewers significantly improved the clarity of this manuscript.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 137 • Issue 9 • September 2011
Pages: 1037 - 1046
Copyright
© 2011 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Aug 2, 2010
Accepted: Feb 3, 2011
Published online: Aug 15, 2011
Published in print: Sep 1, 2011
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