Discussion of "Flume Tests for Scour in Clay at Circular Piers" by Francis C. K. Ting, Jean-Louis Briaud, H. C. Chen, Rao Gudavalli, Suresh Perugu, and Gengsheng Wei

• Published in: Journal of hydraulic engineering (New York, N.Y.) N.Y.), 2003-07, Vol.129 (7), p.552-554
• Main Authors: Thakurdesai, S. M, Balasubramanian, R, Tarapore, Z. S
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: DISCUSSIONS AND CLOSURES
• ISSN: 0733-9429; 1943-7900
• DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9429(2003)129:7(552)

The authors have made a valuable contribution to the current status of knowledge on scour around bridge piers, for which they should be congratulated. The literature is replete with information regarding alluvial beds, but there is hardly any material on the process of scour in clays. The authors have used a hyperbolic model for fitting the scour - time curve in order to obtain what is called the equilibrium depth of scour. Of the 43 experiments conducted, 36 were in various types of clay, primarily porcelain, and 7, for comparative purposes, in sand. The results have been compared with the predictions made by the HEC 18 equation, from which it was found that the predicted scour is much higher than the observed scour for sand, whereas in the case of clay, higher values were registered in the model studies.