Onset Of Scour Below A Pipeline Exposed To Waves

Abstract

Experiments are carried out in a wave flume to investigate whether tunnel erosion will take place or otherwise. The main parameters studied are the initial burial depth and the Keulegan-Carpenter number, KC. The results indicate that the critical burial depth beyond which no scour occurs is a function of KC number. The larger the KC number, the larger the critical burial depth. Also presented in the paper are the results of bed shear-stress measurements in the vicinity of a pipeline exposed to an oscillatory flow as well as the pressure distributions around a pipeline mounted on the bed. The latter information shed light onto the mechanism responsible for the onset of scour in waves.