Scour Around Bridges
Scour Around Bridges
Scour Around Bridges
© Printed in India
UMESH C KOTHYARI
Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee 247 667
e-mail: umeshfce@iitr.ernet.in
1. Introduction
“Man who overlooks the water under bridge will find the bridge under water”. This anonymous
citation highlights the detrimental effects that river flow can have on the stability of piers and
abutments that support a bridge founded in river. The main cause of concern in stability of
bridges founded in river-beds is the lowering of river-bed level caused by river flow around
bridge elements such as piers, abutments and spur dikes and is termed ‘local scour’.
An accurate estimation of scour depth below stream-bed during design is important since
this determines the foundation levels of the bridge elements such as pier, abutment, guide
bank, spur, groyene, etc. Following the Scholarie Creek Bridge failure in the State of New
York in 1987, which killed 10 people, the US Federal Highway Administration mandated
that all state highway agencies evaluate existing and proposed bridges for susceptibility to
scour-related failure. Huber (1991) stated that since 1950 about 500 bridges failed in USA
and that a majority of them were the result of hydraulic conditions primarily due to the scour
of foundation material. Such data on bridge failures in India due to scour is not available.
Although scour has been a matter of concern to the railway and public work departments in
187
188 Umesh C Kothyari
the country, only a few hydrologic and scour studies have been undertaken by governmental
agencies like the Ministries of Surface Transport and Railways (Gupta 2003). The depth of
scour below the river-bed level around bridge elements in alluvial streams can be very large
depending on flow, pier and sediment characteristics. The foundations of bridge piers should
therefore have a great depth below the river-bed (up to 50 m) in case of large rivers like the
Ganga and the Brahmputra. Considerable cost would be saved in the construction of bridge
foundations if the maximum scour depth is realistically estimated during design.
2. Mechanism of scour
The boundary layer in the flow past a bridge element undergoes a three-dimensional sepa-
ration. This separated shear layer rolls up along the obstruction to form a vortex system in
front of the element which is swept downstream by the river flow. Viewed from the top, this
vortex system has the characteristic shape of a horseshoe and thus called a horseshoe vortex
(figure 1). The formation of the horseshoe vortex and the associated downflow around the
bridge element results in increased shear stress and hence a local increase in sediment trans-
port capacity of the flow. This leads to the development of a deep hole (scour hole) around the
bridge element, which in turn, changes the flow pattern causing a reduction in shear stress by
the flow thus reducing its sediment transport capacity. The temporal variation of scour and the
maximum depth of scour at bridge elements therefore mainly depend on the characteristics
of flow, pier and river-bed material. The formation of the horseshoe vortex and the associated
downflow cause scour at different elements of a bridge such as pier, abutment and spur dike.
The mechanism of scour around bridge piers has been studied by Kothyari et al (1992a & b)
whereas studies on the mechanism of scour around abutments and spur dikes are available in
Kothyari & Ranga Raju (2001). Vittal et al (1994) and Kumar et al (1999) investigated the
effectiveness of several appurtenances for reduction of scour around bridge piers.
What is commonly known as Lacey’s method of estimating regime depth of flow in loose bed
alluvial rivers was developed by Lacey (1929) and Inglis (1944) mainly based on observations
made in canals in India and Pakistan. This method is commonly used in India for estimation
of scour depth also around bridge piers placed in alluvial rivers, and is recommended for
design by the Indian Road Congress and Indian Railways. Recently, questions have been
raised about its application to rivers in clayey or gravelly strata. The present paper is devoted
to a detailed discussion and comments on Lacey–Inglis method and its limitations.
Initially Lacey’s equations (1) and (2) were meant for constant discharge flowing through
channels in loose non-cohesive material having the bed material size in the range 0·13 to
0·43 mm. Later, an analysis of data from some rivers in India flowing through Indo-Gangetic
plain, it was stated that these equations also apply to meandering rivers at the bankful stage.
The bankful discharge was defined by Inglis (1947) as 2/3 to 3/4 of the flood discharge, and
it was basically the maximum discharge that the main river channel (excluding flood plain)
carried. The bankful discharge has a return period of about 1·6 to 2 years. In the context of
bridge scour, the designer applies these equations for a flood discharge of 50 to 100 year
return period which is much greater than the bankful discharge.
The recent advances in research related to bridge pier scour give more emphasis on compu-
tation of temporal variation of scour depth for determining the design scour depth (Kothyari
Indian practice on estimation of scour around bridge piers — A comment 191
et al 1992 a & b, Oliveto & Hager, 2002, Mia & Nago, 2003). The main logic behind such a
philosophy is that for a given discharge in the river, the time required to develop equilibrium
scour depth is very large (more than 3 to 4 days). Since the design flood flows do not last this
long, they are not able to scour up to their maximum potential.
A detailed comparison of Lacey’s scour depth with field observations from several countries
is available in Garde & Kothyari (1998) and Kothyari (2003). In order to further compare
Lacey’s estimate of scour depth with actual observations, the data on scour observations made
at a railway bridge on river Ganga at Garhmukteshwar in Uttar Pradesh have been used here.
The scour depth at several piers of the bridge was measured by lowering the lead weights into
the river-bed around the piers.
These observations have been made by a person in charge of railway bridge at Garhmuk-
teshwar between July 09, 1996 and September 21, 1996. The geometry of the piers of the
bridge at Garhmukteshwar is shown in figure 2. The river-bed material therefore consists of
fine sand; a silt factor equal to 1·0 is used (Ranga Raju et al 1997 and 1999). The observations
by railways included concurrent measurements of discharge and scour depth. The tempo-
ral variation of river discharges, observed scour depth and scour depth estimated by Lacey’s
method [(1) and (5)] is presented in figures 3(a) and 3(b) respectively.
Figure 3(b) shows that observed values of scour depth only changed from about 10 m in
the beginning of the flood to about 13 m during the passage of the flood peaks which occurred
between the 40th and 50th day of the observation. Also, the increase in scour depth from a
value of about 11 m to 13 m took place during the first ten days of the rise of river flows and
beyond that period the observed scour depth remained almost constant despite the fact that
the discharge was nearly doubled during the corresponding passage of the peak flood. The
cause of such small increase in scour depth is presumally because during the passage of peak
flows the rate of change of flow values was very large and the scour depth could not increase
at this rate.
192 Umesh C Kothyari
Figure 3a. Temporal variation of discharge of river Ganga at Garhmukteshwar (between July 9, 1996
and September 21, 1996).
The scour depth is reported to reduce during recession of the flood (i.e. beyond the observa-
tional period of 50 days). This is on expected lines as considerable deposition of the suspended
sediment occurs during recession.
A comparison between corresponding values of observed scour depth and scour depth
estimated by Lacey’s method (figure 3(b)) reveals that Lacey’s method underestimates the
Figure 3b. Temporal variation of observed and computed values of maximum scour depth at piers
of railway bridge on river Ganga at Garhmukteshwar (between July 9, 1996 and September 21, 1996).
Indian practice on estimation of scour around bridge piers — A comment 193
scour depth in the rising part of the hydrograph while the Lacey’s estimate of scour is higher
during passage of the peak flows and the recession part of the hydrograph.
Another effect during passage of floods also needs mention. It is known that in some streams
there is general lowering of the river-bed during passage of flood; in many other streams,
data indicate that the general bed of the river rose during the flood. These changes are usually
rapid. Experience on such rivers indicates that changes in bed level during passage of flood are
linked with changes in total sediment concentration during the flood. In fact, such a behaviour
of the river can be related to a relative lag between the peak of flood hydrograph and the
peak of sediment concentration hydrograph. The two cases are illustrated in figure 4. In case
(a), the flood peak occurs first followed by the sediment concentration peak. As the sediment
concentration carried during the rising limb is relatively less, the river-bed is scoured during
the rising limb of flood hydrograph, while the bed tends to aggrade during the falling limb
because during the falling limb it is carrying relatively more sediment load. In case (b), the peak
of sediment concentration occurs first followed by the peak of flood hydrograph. In this case,
the stream carries relatively more sediment load during rising limb and relatively less during
the falling limb. Hence, bed would aggrade during rising limb of hydrograph and degrade
during falling limb. Such changes occur where flash floods occur; their occurrence would be
less important on large rivers where floods occur and recede slowly. Without adequate data
194 Umesh C Kothyari
on river-bed elevations and water surface during floods, one would not know the extent of
this effect. However, it needs to be emphasized that this effect is not explicitly considered in
the Lacey–Inglis estimation.
The other investigations on scour reviewed by Kothyari (2003) indicate that scour at bridge
piers is strongly affected by diameter or width of bridge pier, shape of nose, and orientation
of flow with respect to pier axis. Scour depth can change from 30 to 50% or more in such
situations. This would mean K value in Dse = KDLQ should depend on these parameters.
This is again not considered in Lacey’s method.
One may refer to scour depth equation proposed by Kothyari et al (1992b) for channels
transporting sediment. The equilibrium scour below normal bed level dse is given by
In (7) b is the pier diameter, D the flow depth and α the opening ratio which equals (B −b)/B,
where B is centre-to-centre spacing between the piers. Equation (7) can also be written as:
As already mentioned, Dse represents the scour depth below the HFL therefore, Dse = dse +D.
For simplification let the two exponents 0·67 and −0·60 of (8) be taken as 0·67 and −0·67
respectively. Now adding unity to both sides of (8) we obtain:
This indicates that at a relative scour depth below HFL, Dse /D is strongly dependent on the
ratio (pier width/flow depth) and the opening ratio α. In the field α is close to unity and hence
its effect on Dse /D is likely to be small, but the effect of b/D on scour which is significant
is not reflected in constant K value in the Lacey–Inglis method.
Equation (8) also indicates that dse is proportional to d −0·07 ; hence, scour depth decreases
with increase in sediment size. However, the effect is very small. This is true only when the
sediment is nearly uniform i.e. σg , the geometric standard deviation is only slightly greater
than unity. According to Garde (1972) and Kothyari (1995) the geometric standard deviation
σg is related to the median sediment size d as:
Here d is in mm. As σg increases some of the coarser non-moving sediment particles accumu-
late in the scour hole and tend to form an armour coat. As a result, the maximum scour depth
in non-uniform sediments is much less than that in uniform sediments. This effect is also
not considered in the Lacey–Inglis method. This particularly happens in gravel-bed rivers. In
which Lacey’s equations (1) and (2) are not valid. Further, the river-bed material being coarse
and non-uniform, as the flood discharge reduces, paving is formed on the bed below which lies
the parent non-uniform material. This phenomenon presents a situation of scour in layered
materials. For these reasons the Lacey–Inglis method should not be used in gravel-bed rivers.
Indian practice on estimation of scour around bridge piers — A comment 195
5. Codal provisions
As regards scour estimation around bridge piers, two codal provisions are available in India,
both of which depend on the Lacey–Inglis method with slight variation. The Indian Railway
Standards (1985), IRC: 5 (1998) and IRC: 78 (2000) stipulate that in channels with alluvial
beds where the width of effective linear waterway provided is not less than Lacey’s width
(equation (2)), Lacey’s depth be calculated using (1). In case where, due to constriction of
waterway, the width is less than Lacey’s width, or where it is narrow and deep as in the case
of incised rivers, Lacey’s depth be calculated using the equation:
Equation (11) is obtained by combining (11) and (2). In using (11) for computing DLq , one
must compute q from Q divided by effective linear waterway.
The Indian Road Congress Standard Specifications and the Code of Practice for Road
Bridges IRC: 78 (2000) and IRC: 5 (1998) recommend use of (11) for computing DLq and
then Dse = 2DLq . Further, both codal provisions give guidelines for estimating Lacey’s silt
factor f . The IRC codes recommend that the design discharge be increased from 10% to 30%
(depending upon catchment area) for computation of design scour.
As indicated by Chitale (1988), the Lacey–Inglis method being empirical in nature, it is
essential that it is used as recommended by Inglis; i.e. computing DLQ from (1) and then
finding Dse . Chitale (1988) showed that for data of Inglis for 17 bridges, if DLq is computed
and then compared with the observed Dse , the magnitude of K varies from 1·23 to 8·39 with
a mean of 3·78. Hence, it would be wrong to take K = 2·0, when DLq is used as stipulated
by IRC codal provision.
The railway bridge on river Ganga at Garhmukteshwar built in 1900 is still in operation.
Design discharge for the bridge is not known (Sharma & Asthana 1976). However, a flood of
12, 748 m3 /s passed safely through the bridge in 1924 (Sharma & Asthana 1976). This flood
magnitude is the highest over a period of 103 years and the same corresponded to a high
flood level HFL of 200·25 m (Ranga Raju et al 1997). A waterway (span length) of 704·0 m
is provided for the bridge. The value of q for the condition of highest flood is 18·1 m3 /s/m
(without further increase in the design flood magnitude as per the provisions of IRC). Taking
f = 1·0 (Ranga Raju et al 1997 & 1999) the value of DLq in (11) is 9·24 m. The scour
depth below HFL as per IRC code is 18·48 m which would produce the maximum scour level
of [200·25(HFL) − 18·48] = 181·77 m. The maximum permissible scour level adopted for
design of the bridge was 183·03 m (figure 2). It may thus be noted that the bridge foundation
did not encounter the kind of scour magnitude during its life of 103 years so far, which is
envisaged through IRC provisions. In this case thus the design scour depth as per IRC codes
is probably much more safe.
It is also worthwhile to mention here that several other existing bridges over different rivers
in the country are over a century old. The ones over Ganga at Sangam (Allahabad) and the old
railway bridge on Yamuna at Delhi are a few examples. The foundation levels of these bridges
were obviously not determined as per Indian Railway Standards (1985), IRC:78 and IRC:5
since these codes came into vogue much later. However, the fact remains that the foundation
levels of the afore-mentioned and other bridges are at a level higher than required as per the
provisions of codes of practice in India like IRC:78 and IRC:5. They have served their purpose
efficiently for over a century even if they have encountered the design floods. It is also to
be mentioned that the new bridges being built in the vicinity of these century-old existing
196 Umesh C Kothyari
bridges are being provided much lower foundation levels resulting in increased construction
costs.
In the light of the above, it is imperative to base the provisions of the codes being practised
in India on scientific studies for scour around bridge piers and abutments. It is necessary to
find the range of bed material size where Lacey’s equation is applicable apart from the fact that
Lacey’s equation does not cover other parameters except discharge and size of bed material.
A comparison of estimates of scour depth obtained through various relationships with field
observations from several countries revealed (Garde & Kothyari, 1998 & Kothyari 2003) the
estimates of scour depth following Lacey’s method to be less accurate than the methods of
Kothyari–Garde–Ranga Raju (Kothyari et al 1992a, b) and Melville–Sutherland (Melville &
Sutherland 1988).
It is therefore clear that there is a strong need for reviewing the codal provisions for
estimation of scour being followed in India to make more rational recommendations for design
against scour based on scientific investigations.
6. Conclusions
It can be seen that the Lacey–Inglis method is basically empirical and essentially gives total
scour below HFL in the case of meandering rivers in flood plain in sandy material. It is
based on data from only seventeen bridges — a relatively small number. The Lacey–Inglis
method is meant for non-cohesive sandy material with mean sediment size of about 0·15 mm
to 0·43 mm and having the geometric standard deviation of the bed material about 1·4 to 1·8.
However, the method is commonly used in design of railway and road bridges in India. When
compared with other methods in the light of principles of river hydraulics, the limitations of
Lacey–Inglis method become apparent.
Notations
b pier diameter
B centre-to-centre spacing between piers
d median size of bed material
dse equilibrium scour depth below river-bed level
D flow depth
DLq mean scour depth below high flood level
DLQ normal scour depth below high flood level
Dse maximum scour depth below high flood level
f Lacey’s silt factor
K constant
P perimeter of the channel
q design flood discharge intensity
Q design flood discharge
α opening ratio
σg geometric standard deviation.
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