A Laboratory Study of Longitudinal, Transverse and Topography of the Scouring the Bridge Pier Group with Sand Mining

Sand mining from rivers is one of the biggest concerns in the science today. Certain principles and rules for choosing the right place for mining materials and the amount of this mining are missing in the design codes. Therefore, mining of river materials from sites with less potential and near structures has been occasionally seen. In the present study, it has been attempted to reinforce the structure to control the impact of the mining of material, which results in the increased scour by changing the flow pattern around the structure. The experiments were carried out in two simple and armed modes, in sand bed with a grain size of 0.78 mm, with a length of 4.25 meters, inside a canal of 13 meters in length and 1.2 meters in width. The extent of scouring along the longitudinal and transverse directions in different times from the start to the scouring equilibrium was investigated for all substrates under sub-critical flow conditions (range 0.5-0.25). The results showed that the use of a cable-protected method in the upstream pit led to 29.6% reduction in the maximum scour depth at the front and 34% reduction in the back of the pier; also, in the downstream of the pit, it reduced the maximum scour depth by 15% at the front of the pier. Therefore, the cable arrangement used at the piers surface, according to the current research method, resulted in a significant reduction in the depth and extent of scouring in the pier group of the bridge.