Numerical Modeling of Local Scour Depth at Non-Uniform Piers

Abstract

One of the most dangerous issues in river engineering is erosion brought on by the flow around bridge piers, which causes failure. As a result, simulating scouring is a crucial technique for assessing the likelihood of scour-related bridge failure. The scour depth surrounding hydraulic structures (non-uniform piers) was investigated using various computational and laboratory models. This study examines the efficacy of the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model in generating simulations of the scour depth along a bridge pier via the Flow3D software (version 10.1.1.3). k-ε model is built to more accurately consider the generation of turbulent kinetic energy and the anisotropic characteristics of the turbulence. The model’s calibration and verification are assessed using statistical metrics (Root Mean Square Error (RMSE), Mean Absolute Error (MAE), and coefficient of determination (R2)). Based on the statistical criteria, it may be concluded that the model’s results were promising because the discrepancy between the numerical and experimental models is negligible. The Froude number has been demonstrated to be a crucial factor that must be considered during the construction of piers, since reducing it will result in a decrease in longitudinal velocity and turbulent kinetic energy. Also, the Flow-3D program accurately reproduces the scour depth, flow, and velocity near the pier.