Flow Structures Around a Circular Bridge Pier with a Submerged Prism at Upstream

Previous investigations have indicated that local scour around bridge piers and abutments causes around 60% of waterway bridge failures. In order to decrease the potential of pier-scour failure, the authors previously proposed an upstream prism as a new countermeasure against local scour. The proposed prism was examined in a comprehensive experimental program to find the most efficient size, submergence ratio, and installation location of the prism. The experimental results showed that the submerged prism could reduce around 40% of the maximum scour depth, and 60% of the scour-hole volume. In this study, in order to find out how this submerged prism affects the flow structure around the pier and reduces the pier-scour, the flow structure analysis was conducted using particle image velocimetry (PIV). The velocity components were measured for two cases of a single circular pier with and without the submerged prism. Analysis of the results indicated that the proposed prism could change the flow structure at the upstream and downstream of the pier. In fact, this submerged prism formed a wake region behind itself, and the bridge pier was located at this wake region. The produced wake resisted the down-flow at the upstream side of the pier and also disturbed the formation of the horseshoe vortices around the pier. In addition, this submerged prism reduced the strength of wake vortices behind the pier. Consequently, the pier-scour was significantly reduced by the substantial changes in the flow structure.