Scour at a Submerged Square Pile in Various Flow Depths under Steady Flow

Abstract

Local scour around submerged piles in currents are common in coastal and offshore engineering. This paper studies the influences of the submergence ratio (flow depth to pile height) on local scour around a square pile in steady flow. Submergence ratio ranging from 1–4, as well as two unsubmerged tests, were tested with a 10 × 10 square pile of 20 cm height. The three-dimensional profiles were measured to study the scour and deposition characteristics. Results show that the maximum scour depth was always at the upstream corner points rather than at the symmetry center point of the pile. The temporal maximum scour depth achieved its equilibrium sate in less than 4 h for each test. The equilibrium scour depths at the upstream corner points were independent of the submergence ratio when the latter was larger than 1.5. These findings give meaningful reference to the numerical simulations and local scour depth protections in the submerged pile cases deeper than which the flow depth does not affect the equilibrium scour depth.