| Abstrakt: |
The transportation system is fundamental to national development, with bridges playing a crucial role. The increasing demand for travel and cargo transportation has led to increased requirements for bridges, especially for river-crossing bridges. These bridges face the persistent challenge of local scouring around their piers due to the complex hydrodynamic processes induced by water flow. Preventing scouring during bridge design and construction is essential, and various protective measures have been proposed, categorised as active and passive protection. Typical scour protection methods for bridge piers include rock riprap, collars, an array of piles, and submerged vanes. This study focuses on the numerical analysis of submerged rigid vegetation (SRV) as a novel countermeasure to mitigate scouring around bridge piers. The study investigates the impact of SRV density and the horizontal distance between SRV and bridge piers on scour characteristics using the FLOW-3D numerical model. Results demonstrate that SRV can effectively reduce scour depth and promote stability around bridge piers, with moderate vegetation density and distance equivalent to bridge pier diameter between submerged rigid vegetation and bridge pier, yielding better protection. It was found that the submerged rigid vegetation can effectively reduce the flow velocities around the bridge piers, thereby promoting the reduction in scour depth. This study presents a promising approach for cost-effective and environmentally friendly scour mitigation, aligning with the concept of Nature-based Solutions (NbSs). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
