SCOUR AROUND SINGLE PILE AND PILE GROUPS SUBJECTED TO WAVES AND CURRENTS

Abstract

This paper presents the results of an experimental study of scour around single pile and different configurations of pile groups exposed to waves and currents. Four different sets of experiments were used in this study: single pile, group of two piles with side-by-side arrangement, group of two piles with tandem arrangement and group of three piles. For the four sets of tests, the main variables were water depth, wave characteristics, flow velocity, Keulegan-Carpenter number and gap between piles. It was found that the larger the KC, the larger the scour hole dimensions. Existence of waves reduces the scour compared to the case of currents only. Equations for calculating scour at different configurations of pile groups are introduced. The scour depth for case of pile groups is generally greater than that for case of single pile depending on the group configuration and gap between piles.