Local scour around a bridge pier under ice-jammed flow condition – an experimental study

Abstract The appearance of an ice jam in a river crucially distorts local hydrodynamic conditions including water level, flow velocity, riverbed form and scour processes. Laboratory experiments are used for the first time here to study ice-induced processes near bridge pier. Results show that with sheet cover hole depth around is increased by about 10% compared under equivalent open conditions. More dramatically, ice-jammed flows induce both greater depths variability, maximum as much 200% than Under condition, length holes pier increase velocity while increases ice-jam thickness. Also, quite naturally, height resulting deposition dune downstream responds Using laboratory data conditions, predictive relationships derived between flow’s Froude number dimensionless length.