The occurrence of scour around bridge elements due to the transportation of bed material during flood events can cause serious structural damage and loss of life. Increased uncertainties in precipitation and runoff predictions due to climate change make this phenomenon more complex and dangerous. Bridge scour countermeasures should thus be more focused on decreasing scour formation around bridge elements. In this study, abutment scour under clear-water conditions with constant flow intensity was conducted and collars were tested as scour countermeasures around semi-circular end bridge abutments. The experimental study was performed in a rectangular channel with an almost uniform cohesionless bed material for 3 h with and without collars. Collars of various lengths located at different elevations around the abutments were tested to investigate the effect of collars on scour development. The results of the study showed that the scour depth decreased with increasing collar width and when the collar was placed below the bed level for a given abutment length. The results were compared with those of similar earlier studies to show the effect of abutment shape, size of the bed sediment and test durations on the development of scour depth around abutments.

In this experimental study, the temporal development of local scour is studied around semi-circular end bridge abutments under quasi-unsteady clear-water flow conditions in a rectangular sediment channel. A step-wise hydrograph of 6 h duration is used in the experiments. Six different abutment lengths having constant width, with uniform sand as bed material, were tested for three different successive flows – each applied continuously for 2 h. Bathymetry of the bed level was measured around the abutment every 15 min with the help of a measurement device to observe temporal development of the local scour around the semi-circular end abutment. Effects of the abutment length, flow intensity and time on the scour depths around semi-circular end bridge abutments, along with those at the front, upstream and downstream faces of the abutment, are also investigated and discussed. It is shown that the maximum scour depth always occurs at the front noses of the abutments compared with those at the upstream and downstream noses. A dimensionless empirical formula is derived to predict the scour depth at the front nose of the abutment as a function of related parameters. The results reveal that flow intensity is the most critical parameter in scour development.