The scouring of the piers supporting highway bridges has come tobe recognized as a major problem facing the highway engineer. It isbecoming increasingly obvious that bridges that face possible scoursituations must be monitored during their lifetimes. Much data willbe collected during the monitoring phase. A computerized system forthe storage, organization, analysis, and display of field-collectedscour data is described. The system accepts input from the user, and on the basis of user specification, allows the data to be organized and viewed in a variety of formats. These formats include cross sections from scour measurements at selected locations upstream or downstream of the bridge, longitudinal profiles through a selected pier, and the temporal history of maximum scour activity within a specified area near the bridge. The data may be viewed in tabular as well as graphical formats. In addition, the available scour data were analyzed and used to develop regression equations that related long-term trends in channel degradation to flow and geometric variables. These equations were incorporated into the computer system so that the user could determine if observed trends in channel degradation were likely to continue. This paper appears in transportation research record no. 1279, Hydrology and environmental design 1990.
Abstract