Influence of Pier Geometry and Debris Characteristics on Wood Debris Accumulations at Bridge Piers

Panici, Diego and De Almeida, Gustavo (2020) Influence of Pier Geometry and Debris Characteristics on Wood Debris Accumulations at Bridge Piers. Journal of Hydraulic Engineering, 146 (6), [04020041]. (doi:10.1061/(ASCE)HY.1943-7900.0001757).

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Abstract

This paper analyzes the influence of the geometry of bridge piers and supplied debris on the formation and growth of wood debris jams at bridge piers. A total of 162 laboratory experiments were conducted. Experimental results showed that the maximum size of debris jams formed by the accumulation of cylindrical debris (i.e., wooden dowels) is smaller than that of jams formed by natural nonbranched wood of irregular shape. In addition, experiments with branched debris resulted in jams that were significantly smaller and less stable than those with nonbranched natural debris. Finally, comparison of experiments conducted with six different pier shapes indicated that the shape of the pier has negligible effects on the maximum size of a woody debris jam. The only exception to this observation was for square piers, which showed slightly larger debris jam sizes than the other types of piers tested.

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Accepted/In Press date: 3 December 2019

e-pub ahead of print date: 30 March 2020

Published date: 1 June 2020

Additional Information: Funding Information: The authors received financial support for this research by the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) through the Centre for Doctoral Training in Sustainable Infrastructure Systems (CDT-SIS), Grant No. EP/L01582X/1. Part of this research was also funded by the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), Grant No. NE/R009015/1. The authors are grateful to Dr. Toru Tsuzaki and Mr. Karl Scammell of the University of Southampton Hydraulics Laboratory for the technical and material support in carrying out the experiments and are also thankful to the M.Sc. Student Matthew Choi for helping with part of the experimental work. Publisher Copyright: © 2020 American Society of Civil Engineers.