Effect of Viscosity on the Equilibrium Scour Depth at Single Cylindrical Piers
Publication: Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 142, Issue 3
Abstract
Most studies on scouring seem to have overlooked the effect of viscosity, the assumption being that the flow is free of viscous effects inside the scour hole because of the presence of highly turbulent flow structures such as down-flow, horseshoe vortex, and wake vortices irrespective of the approach flow regime. The present work reports the results of experiments conceived to revisit the effect of viscosity on scouring. The experiments were performed by changing the Reynolds-like numbers for two flow shallowness values and keeping constant the remaining dimensionless parameters that control the scour process. The values of the Reynolds number corresponded to transitional approach flows. The experimental results indicate that scouring does depend on viscosity in usual laboratory conditions, the viscous effect leading to scour depths in the safety side.
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Acknowledgments
This work was partially funded by projects RECI/ECM-HID/0371/2012 [Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional (FEDER), program Programa Operacional Factores de Competitividade (COMPETE), Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT)] and PTDC / ECM / 101353 / 2008 (FCT). G. Simarro is supported by the Spanish government through the Ramón y Cajal program.
References
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Published In
Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 142 • Issue 3 • March 2016
Copyright
© 2015 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Feb 11, 2015
Accepted: Sep 13, 2015
Published online: Nov 4, 2015
Published in print: Mar 1, 2016
Discussion open until: Apr 4, 2016
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