International Journal of New Technology and Research (IJNTR) ISSN:2454-4116, Volume-3, Issue-9, September 2017 Pages 01-10 1 www.ijntr.org Abstract— The current research work presents laboratory experimental results on local scour around vertical-wall bridge abutments in uniform sediments under clear water scour conditions. The study reports an extensive experimental investigation, that was performed in an experimental model in the Technological Educational Institute of Thessaly, whose findings are used to describe the effects of various parameters on local scour depth evolution. The experimental measurements of scouring depths were obtained in the vicinity of the construction for different inflow discharges and flow duration. The expected bed erosion and the maximum scour depth at the upstream edge of the construction are satisfactorily simulated by the experimental procedure. Three different sizes of the abutment width normal to the flow direction were used in order to investigate the impact of this parameter to local scour variation. All experimental test case results described in this work are relevant to unsteady, two-dimensional, quasi or fully three-dimensional flow calculations for viscous flows in open channels with sediment transport. All the experimental results are graphically presented and may be used to assist in the development of new and the verification and refinement of existing river numerical simulation models for computing free-surface flows with movable beds, specifically around bridge abutments and generally on bed level variation due to sediment transport. Index Terms—Bridge Abutment, Experimental Measurements, Scour Depth, Time Dependence I. INTRODUCTION Bed load transport in natural rivers, as well as scouring around bridge piers and abutments in rivers, compose severe environmental problems, which demand high cost in order to be faced. The scour hole just downstream of the head of the abutment can endanger the stability of the structure and led to the failure of the construction. From the engineering view point, the accurate quantitative estimation of local scour process around hydraulic structures is necessary for the prevention of severe environmental problems and for a safe river design. Numerous experimental investigations have been performed on the study of the flow, the bed level variation and mainly the scour mechanisms in rivers and especially around bridge piers and abutments. Melville (1992) have performed experimental measurements and analyzed the effects on scour depth of abutment length, flow depth and Evangelia D. Farsirotou, Department of Civil Engineering T.E., Technological Educational Institute of Thessaly, Larissa, Greece Nikolaos G. Xafoulis, Department of Civil Engineering T.E., Technological Educational Institute of Thessaly, Larissa, Greece abutment shape and alignment. Kandasamy and Melville (1998) studied experimentally the influence of abutment length and water depth in maximum scour depth around an abutment, under conditions of initiation of bed material movement. The equilibrium scour depth at bridge abutments in compound channels for steady, uniform flow, close to the initiation of motion of the bed particles was experimentally investigated by Cardoso and Bettess (1999). Farsirotou, Dermissis and Soulis (2007) have performed laboratory measurements to simulate bed variation near a trapezoidal bridge abutment and investigated the impact of water depth and discharge on scour depths. An experimental study was conducted by Elsebaie (2013) in order to investigate the time variation of three-dimensional scour hole geometry at a circular pier in sand bottom. Salami and Pirestani (2015) experimentally investigated the effect of abutment shape on bed changes and Yorozuya and Ettema (2015) presented experimental findings conducted with common standard designs of abutments in compound channels. The objective of this research work is to produce a data base intended as support in the development of new and the refinement of existing numerical models for computing free-surface flows with movable beds, specifically around bridge abutments. A laboratory experimental procedure was established to simulate local scour around vertical-wall abutments in uniform sediments under clear water scour conditions. The present study reports an experimental investigation on the effects of various parameters on local scour depth. The impact of flow duration, water depth and discharge on local scour variation was investigated. Moreover the effect of the ratio between the width of the abutment, normal to the flow direction, and the width of the channel, b/B, on local scour evolution was also studied. II. EXPERIMENTAL LABORATORY SET-UP A. Testing flume description All experimental test case measurements were carried out in the existed research flume at Hydraulics Laboratory of Civil Engineering T.E. Larissa Department, Technological Educational Institute of Thessaly. The testing flume is a smooth, prismatic channel, of rectangular cross-section, 6.0m long, 0.078m wide and 0.25m deep. The flume walls were made of 10mm thick plexi-glas to facilitate visual observations. As the object of the current experiments was a parametric investigation of local scour depth evolution around vertical-wall bridge abutments, three different sizes of abutment models were constructed using waterproof wood. Each model was placed on the plexi-glass wall of the flume, An Experimental Study of Local Scour Depth Around Bridge Abutments Evangelia Farsirotou, Nikolaos Xafoulis