A.

Sample Scour Calculations (HEC-18)

A.1. Determine Scour Variables

A.2. Aggradation / Degradation in Stream Bed

Typically aggradation and degradation are assumed to offset each other:   ScourAgg/Deg = 0.0 ft

A.3. Evaluate Scour Analysis Method (Live Bed or Clear

Water)
Live-bed scour occurs when the flow of water upstream of the bridge is transporting bed material. Conversely,clear-water
scour occurs when there is no bed material being transported by the upstream flow. Use the followingcalculation to determine
the type of scour:

Note: Vc is the velocity needed to transport D50 sized particles. From HEC-18 Equation 5.1. Vc = 11.17 y0.167 D500.333

A.4. Live Water Contraction Scour

© McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. Any use is subject to the Terms of Use, Privacy Notice and copyright information.
Note: y2 is the average depth of flow under the bridge after scour.

Note: Live-water calculation from HEC-18 Equation 5.2. y2 = y1 * (Q2/Q1) 0.857 * (W1/W2) k1

Note: Clear-water calculation from HEC-18 Equation 5.4. y2 = [(0.0077 * Q22)/(1.16 * D50 0.666 * W22)]0.4286

Verification of the live-water and clear-water equations is required by comparing with the equations presented in the
latestversion of HEC-18.

Comparison with an alternative method such as ABSCOUR or HEC-RAS software is desirable since high scour depths
mayresult and it may not always be practical to provide armoring countermeasures.

A.5. Local Scour: Left Bridge Abutment

0.5

© McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. Any use is subject to the Terms of Use, Privacy Notice and copyright information.
Note: Fr is the Froude number upstream of the abutment. From HEC-18 page 7.8. Fr =Ve/(32.2 * ya) 0.5

Local scour depth (left abutment), y local(left abut.)=   18.8ft

Note: Froehlich's eq for local scour at abutment. From HEC-18 Eq 7.1.ys = ya * {[2.27 * K1 K2 * (L'/ya) 0.43* Fr0.61] + 1}

Note: HIRE equation for local scour at abutment. From HEC-18 Eq 7.2.ys = ya * [4 * Fr0.33 *(K1/0.55) * K2]

Verification of the complex abutment local scour equations is required by comparing with the equations presented in the
latestversion of HEC-18.

Comparison with an alternative method such as ABSCOUR or HEC-RAS software is desirable since high scour depths may
resultand it may not always be practical to provide armoring countermeasures.

A.6. Local Scour: Right Bridge Abutment

Note: Fr is the Froude number upstream of the abutment. From HEC-18 page 7.8. Fr =Ve/(32.2 * ya) 0.5

© McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. Any use is subject to the Terms of Use, Privacy Notice and copyright information.
Local scour depth (right abutment), ylocal(right abut.) =   25.6ft

Note: Froehlich's eq for local scour at abutment. From HEC -18 Eq 7.1.ys ya * {[2.27 * K1 * K2 * (L'/y a) 0.43* Fr0.61] + 1}

Note: HIRE equation for local scour at abutment. From HEC-18 Eq 7.2.ys = ya * [4 * Fr0.33 * (K1/0.55) * K2]

Verification of the local scour equations is required by comparing with the equations presented in the latest version of HEC-
18.

Comparison with an alternative method such as ABSCOUR given in APPENDIX B or HEC-RAS software is desirable since
highscour depths may result and it may not always be practical to provide armoring countermeasures.

A.7. Local Scour: Piers

General rule of thumb for scour at piers (for round nose piers aligned with flow):

Scour depth should be less than or equal to 2.4 times the pier width if Froude number is less than 0.8.

Scour depth should be less than or equal to 3.0 times the pier width if Froude number is greater than 0.8.

Note: If K4 is not 1.0, K4 = 0.4 (VR) 0.15. From HEC-18 Equation 6.5. Also refer to HEC-18 Equations 6.6 through 6.8.

© McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. Any use is subject to the Terms of Use, Privacy Notice and copyright information.
Note: Fr is the Froude number directly upstream of the pier. From HEC-18 Page 7.8. Fr = Ve/(32.2 * ya) 0.5

Local scour depth at pier, ypier =   7.3ft

Note: From HEC-18 Equation 6.1. ypier = y1 * 2 * K1 * K2 * K3 * K4 * (a/y1) 0.65* Fr0.43    MAXIMUM = x ft (general note.)

Verification of the pier scour equation is required by comparing with the equation presented in the latest version of HEC-18.

Comparison with an alternative method such as ABSCOUR or HEC-RAS software is desirable since high scour depths may
resultand it may not always be practical to provide armoring countermeasures.

COMBINED SCOUR DEPTHS for the 100-year storm

Total Scour Channel incl. Piers:

Total Scour Right Abutment:

© McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. Any use is subject to the Terms of Use, Privacy Notice and copyright information.