Comparative Analysis between Observed and Predicted Contraction Scour at Bridges Abutments

Social and economic damages are the most important damages of the bridge failure. Stability problems of such structures against failure and the depth of the abutments are directly related to the amount of the adjusted scour. Economy, reliability and stability have been main concerns regarding designing abutment bridges enhanced preventing scouring. In this study a detailed comparison of the up-to-date works on scour at the bridge abutment are presented including all possible aspects and contraction scour depth estimation formulas. The experimental data was obtained from the literature and three statistical tests were carried out to determine which of the formulae would give minimum prediction errors. Statistical and graphical comparison between the predicted and measured depth of scour showed the better relatively acceptable prediction scour formulas depth at abutments.