Scour at Coastal Structures

Invited lecture at the Third International Conference on Scour and Erosion,

Amsterdam
November 1–3, 2006

R. J. S. Whitehouse
HR Wallingford Ltd, Howbery Park, Wallingford, OX10 8BA, UK. Tel: +44 1491 822434

to become mobile at a lower level of forcing than on the

I. INTRODUCTION open seabed.
The subject of scour (and siltation) at coastal structures Once the scouring status has been assessed, either a yes
continues to receive much interest in the consulting and or no answer can be provided for a certain return period
research fields. Coastal structures can be categorised as event or it is possible to say for how many hours per year
having four functions, either (1) to provide permanent the forcing is sufficient to cause scouring. The next step
protection against flooding (e.g. dykes and seawalls), (2) in a more detailed assessment is the requirement to
water level control during storm surges (e.g. barriers) or determine the depth and extent of scour occurring and
(3) benefits in coastal management such as preventing how fast it might take to develop. By combining results
shoreline erosion (e.g. seawalls, breakwaters, groynes), or on likelihood of scour and the magnitude an assessment of
(4) for other industrial or economic functions such as scour hazard is arrived at.
harbour breakwaters and jetties, outfalls/intakes, and The paper develops the discussion in a number of key
windfarms. Therefore the topic of scour at coastal areas, examines a number of projects and presents a
structures can be said to cover structures built on the summary of some of the key (in the author’s view)
shoreline as well as structures built in tens of metres of requirements for Research and Development in the field
water, and waves and currents operate in varying of scour at coastal structures.
combinations and relative magnitudes.
In engineering projects scour needs to be considered for
two phases, the installation/construction phase and the
operational phase. The limiting case for design may
require consideration of the erosion of seabed soils Water depth Waves Currents
adjacent to the completed foundation. However, it is also Site
investigation
important to evaluate what kind of scour might develop & data
during installation as this may have a direct bearing on the A
collection
stability of the structure that is being built, or on the
construction methodology that is adopted. In most cases
the main issue for design relates to the target scour
development that can be expected under design B Soil characteristics

conditions, i.e. location, depth and extent, but knowing the

time development is also important in some cases. A
general approach for assessing the mobility of the seabed
soil at a structure was presented by Whitehouse (1998). Soil
mobility
An approach for determining the scour hazard is shown in status
Fig. 1.
This requires input data on waves, currents and water
depth (chart depth plus water level variation). These Structure
C
characteristics
inputs may be determined from modelling or analysis of
field measurements made over a sufficiently long time,
Scouring status
with analysis for relevant return period conditions. The
input data are combined at point A to produce a set of
robust inputs and once combined with information on the
soil characteristics obtained from the site investigation
they are analysed to provide information on the bed shear Figure 1. Scour hazard flow chart
stress and the critical value of bed shear stress for erosion
of the soil. This allows an assessment of the soil mobility
status and the scouring status is determined by adding in II. KEY AREAS
at point C the information on how the structure changes There are a number of key areas in which information is
the flow locally. The local flow acceleration and required when assessing scouring and these will be
turbulence levels due to the structure cause the sediment discussed below.
 Processes – cause and effect: To provide a clear basis energy forcing, whether that is due to currents or due to
for understanding it is necessary to examine cause and waves. The scour that occurs during a storm (i.e. at the
effect which relies on a firm grasp of the key parameters event scale) may not be apparent from an examination of
and processes that cause scour at a particular location. the bed level after the storm has subsided. Although not
Without this understanding it is not possible to get a firm the topic of this paper, liquefaction of the seabed due to
grip on the problem. Appropriate predictive methods waves is a form of transient event which can lead to the
combined with proactive monitoring can be used to good settlement or deformation of a structure or sinking of
purpose in understanding and formulating a mitigation scour protection material into the bed. This topic is dealt
plan for problems caused by scouring. In making a with in a Special Issue of the Journal of Waterway, Port,
prediction a range of empirical and analytical methods are Coastal and Ocean Engineering (Sumer, 2006)
available, and where necessary computational fluid highlighting results from the recently completed EC
dynamics methods and laboratory scale physical project LIMAS – Liquefaction at Marine Structures.
modelling with sediment beds in wave and current tanks Another form of transience is the scour that develops
can both be applied to investigate new situations. during the construction process, for example due to the
This area is encapsulated in Fig. 1 as it encompasses installation of a coffer dam, building of a construction
knowing - what are the drivers for change, the structure dock (Section III C) or presence of construction vessels
characteristics and whether there are any cumulative or in- (flow blockage, vessel generated waves and
combination effects of other structures, and realizes the propeller/thruster velocities).
importance of time varying forcing. Long-term changes: There will be long term signals
Equilibrium predictors: These are required to predict of change which will prevail independently of the local
the size and extent of scour holes formed at a structure in scour at the structure. The long term changes are often
response to design condition forcing; for example at a manifest by variations in the plan location of key features
seawall the design water level and wave data are such as the shoreline, sandbanks or channels. The
prescribed and the scour is assessed for those conditions. changes can be determined from the analysis of historical
Generally the equilibrium predictors have been data, the expert analysis of geomorphological features, or
determined from process studies in the laboratory for the application of a predictive method to extend the range
sandy sediments at small to medium scale with, in some of historical data. The longer term changes are not always
cases, verification by field measurements. Section V that easy to assess and may be monotonic, such as occurs
summarises useful references to equilibrium predictors for with a progressively eroding seabed, or cyclic such as is
a range of different coastal structures. It is then associated with the movement of bedforms. The
recommended that the predictions of these formulae are predictive methods can be applied in a deterministic,
verified using large scale laboratory data or field data probabilistic or stochastic fashion. An understanding of
wherever possible. The difficulty with using field data is the sediment transport pathways and the sediment budget
that often a number of factors come into play and it is not will help to assess changes that have and might occur, for
always clear whether the observed scour development is example the beach at a coastal site may become lowered
in equilibrium with the prevailing conditions. Another key because of an interruption to the sediment supply further
factor is 3-dimensional effects, for example at a up the transport path.
breakwater the scour at the trunk is determined by the Mitigation measures: The mitigation of scour is
combined effect of the incident and reflected waves whilst normally possible if scour has been anticipated to occur so
the scour at the head is controlled by flow around the that protective measures can be taken immediately
head. This has been studied by Sumer and Fredsøe (2002) following construction or a monitoring and scour
and predictive equations are presented for both the trunk mitigation programme can be put in place. The scour
and the head of the breakwater. In practical applications hazard assessment can be used to inform such a decision.
predictions of the scour at both locations are required and The paper presents a number of cases where scour
an understanding of how to apply the two 2-dimensional prediction and monitoring have been used to aid
predictors to a 3-dimensional problem is required.
understanding during the design or construction process,
Real soils: The challenge of real soils brings together or to provide improved knowledge.
the disciplines of hydraulic and geotechnical engineering,
as site investigation data is predominantly aimed at III. PROJECT EXAMPLES
determining the strength of the soil for engineering design
and construction. The site investigation data is a valuable A subset of coastal structures are now referred to, namely
input in assessing the susceptibility of a soil to erosion but seawalls, breakwaters and offshore windfarm
some further testing or analysis of the relationship foundations.
between hydraulic and geotechnical properties is required
to be able to make statements about when and how that A. Seawalls
particular soil will erode. There are still situations where scour contributes to the
Transience: At a coastal site the tidal and undermining of seawall toes (Fig. 2). Seawalls are subject
meteorological variation in water level causes the water to a continuing evolution of the fronting beach level and
depth to vary and at the coast the water sweeps back and as the water level and wave conditions change this can
forth across the intertidal foreshore. The occurrence of produce additional local scour at the toe. To better
scour at a seawall (or other structures) is controlled by the understand how the beach level responds to storms it is
beach level combined with the water level when the wave possible to monitor the levels in situ, for example using
conditions are sufficient to cause erosion. In many cases HR Wallingford’s “Tell-Tail” scour monitors. This has
the scour that occurs at structures may be transient in that been carried out at a number of locations, for example at
the deepest scour will occur during a period of higher Teignmouth on the south coast of England monitoring of
scour was carried out at two locations on the same beach, field observations of scour than has been brought together
one on the high part of the beach adjacent to the straight before (Sutherland et al, 2006a). The laboratory tests and
section of seawall and the other on a low part adjacent to a the resulting predictor have been summarised in
recurved section of the wall. The high part of the beach Sutherland et al (2006b). This extends the predictive
had sufficient sediment that it did not suffer scour due to capability for sand beach scour as it also contains data for
storm events that occurred (Fig. 3 – lower right panel). At varying beach slopes (1V:15H to 1V:75H) and vertical
the other location a few hundred metres along the beach and sloping walls. The work has been placed in the
the bed level was lower (Fig. 3 – upper right panel) and context of longer term and seasonal trends.
the measurements showed that transient scour took place
during the tide; i.e. the beach dropped during the tidal 3.5

Recovery
Lowering

Recovery
Lowering
immersion period and recovered prior to the beach drying 3
out. The beach levels at this location were controlled to a

Tide, beach levels (mCD) H s (m)

large extent by sediment supply from the adjacent, and 2.5
higher, part of the beach due to longshore transport.
2

1.5

0.5
Tide Height Scour monitor Hs
0
24/05/2005 00:00 24/05/2005 12:00 25/05/2005 00:00 25/05/2005 12:00
Date and Time GMT

Figure 4. Beach lowering and recovery during a tide measured at

Southbourne (from Sutherland et al, 2006a)

A complimentary approach for shingle beaches was

already presented by Powell and Lowe (1994) and used in
Figure 2. Seawall damage on the east coast of England (photograph Simm et al (1996), Hoffmans and Verheij (1997) and
courtesy of Waveney District Council) Whitehouse (1998).
B. Breakwaters
In the EC funded project SCARCOST (Sumer et al,
2001) testing for scour development in the laboratory
covered vertical and sloping breakwaters, detached
breakwaters, as well as berm and submerged breakwaters.
Laboratory tests carried out with waves and currents in a
large tank allowed the scour depth and extent to be
determined for a detached rubble mound breakwater (front
slope 1V:2H) with waves head on and at an angle (Fig. 5),
and a current parallel to the breakwater to simulate a
coastal current (Sutherland et al, 2001).

5000 90.0

70.0
Figure 3. Monitoring scour on the beach with HR Wallingford “Tell-
4000
Tail” monitors 50.0

3000 30.0
Understanding of the 2-dimensional case on sandy
coasts has been extended by HR Wallingford in a Defra 2000
10.0

(UK Government) funded research project. In this project -10.0

a combination of medium scale laboratory tests including 1000 deposition

-30.0
suspended load sediment transport, re-analysis of existing scour
field data and collection of new field data has been used to 0
-5000 -4000 -3000 -2000 -1000 0 1000 2000 3000 4000
-50.0

test and improve existing scour predictors. The project -70.0

captured in measurements the occurrence of beach

lowering during storms and Fig. 4 shows an example of Figure 5. Scour development at breakwater in oblique waves after
the response that was observed. During the rising tide 30,000 waves (arrow shows wave direction) (Sutherland et al, 2001)
with wave action the beach lowers locally to the toe of the
seawall and during the falling tide the beach level recovers The programme of tests was used to show the way in
its former level. The two periods of tidal inundation with which the processes combine to produce 3-dimensional
waves lead to a beach lowering of at least 0.5m, with the patterns of scour and deposition. The time development is
scour response much reduced when the waves are lower. also an important parameter and information on this was
The project has provided a new scour predictor for sand also obtained showing how the pattern and magnitude of
beaches using a more extensive database of laboratory and scour and deposition changed in time. Once the scour
development was understood tests were made to optimise sufficient resistance to prevent scour under the storm
the layout and stability of a rock apron placed as a scour conditions that can be expected during construction. In
protection measure. areas with strong currents a similar approach may be
The comparison of the results with the 2-dimensional required to prevent the formation of a significant scour
case is shown in Fig. 6 (from Sumer et al, 2001; front hole during construction; experience has shown that scour
slope of breakwater 1V:1.5H); the data for the 2- can also take place in cemented sands during the
dimensional case taken from earlier tests are numbered 1 construction of a breakwater.
to 5. They also plotted a data point from the field, the In many marine projects temporary facilities are
square marked LH (Lillycrop and Hughes, 1993). The required to be built close to the project site during the
wave forcing is characterized by the Keulegan-Carpenter construction phase. One recent project required the
Number (KC). building of a coastal harbour as a temporary dock to
A comparable set of results for the scour at the head facilitate the main construction activities. The site was
was obtained in the 3-dimensional tests, as evidenced by wave dominated and scour developed at one of the corners
the data point with the cross in the circle falling on the of the structure (Fig. 7) which influenced the design of an
solid line following the trend of the earlier tests. adjacent structure that was being built. The scour was
monitored and the information obtained was used to
For the oblique wave case (squares with diagonal
crosses) the scour depth at the head was considerably modify the construction methodology for the adjacent
structure.
reduced (i) and only marginally increased with the current
running (point (i) with the diamond and cross). However
it was noticeable that the scour depth at the junction
between the head and the trunk sections was seen to be
greater than that at the head, but was similar for the
oblique wave with and without current (symbols marked
(ii)). The scour depth at the trunk was reduced in the
oblique wave case (symbol marked iii) due to deposition
of eroded sediment. The role of the current became clear,
increasing the scour depth at the trunk by forming a scour
trough running from the head to the trunk section and
moving the zone of deposition down current.
Scour protection tests (circles marked D and E) showed Figure 7. Monitoring data for scour hole at a construction dock
effective reduction in the scour depth at the head but some
scour was evident adjacent to the protected bed.
D. Windfarm foundations
The options for the foundations of offshore windfarms
include monopiles, multi-leg structures, gravity bases and
suction caissons. Guidance for offshore windfarms is to
be found in the publication by DNV (2004).
The EC-industry project OPTI-PILE investigated the
scour development in waves and currents that could be
expected to occur around the foundations of the Q7
windfarm (Dutch Sector, Southern North Sea). A wide
range of laboratory tests were used to validate a predictive
approach for scour in waves and currents, the performance
of static and dynamic scour protection measures, and the
extents and volumes of scour protection rock required
(Fig. 8). The results were applied within the OPTI-PILE
design spreadsheet for scour and scour protection (Den
Figure 6. The influence of 3-dimensional wave and current field and Boon et al, 2004) which predicts:
scour protection in altering the 2-dimensional prediction of scour depth
S at the head of a rubble mound breakwater with base width B (Sumer
 Scour hole depth and width;
et al, 2001)  Size of static and dynamic rock armour; and,
 Extent and volume of rock armour.
And has an allowance for general bed movement. The
C. Construction works spreadsheet can be used to show how the size of scour
protection varies with a climate of waves and currents.
The influence of scour during construction activities
needs to be considered as it can adversely affect the The spreadsheet tool is applicable to other windfarm
schedule or require changes to the design. The scour that locations and has been checked against the static and
is manifest around temporary docks and causeways needs dynamic scour protection at Horns Rev and Scroby Sands
to be analysed as well as the scour at the primary (Den Boon et al, 2004). Høgedal and Hald (2005)
structure. The application of scour protection during concluded that the OPTI-PILE tool for assessing scour
construction of a rubble mound breakwater or jetty can be risk and scour protection stability predicts the scour depth
used to good effect, as was studied for example by Hales very well.
and Houston (1983). The scour protection material is run Since then it has been assessed further using data for
out ahead of the structure as the bedding layer with scour in strong currents and waves (Whitehouse et al,
2006). This work has indicated that it would be a valuable and maximum envelope of bed velocities that could be
exercise to collect together additional field and laboratory expected.
data to validate the OPTI-PILE tool over a wider range of In the absence of an equilibrium predictor for scour in
conditions. clay it was assumed the equilibrium scour depth was
determined by a predictor for sand but that the rate of
scour was governed by the time development of scour
obtained from the time series prediction (for example as is
shown in Fig. 9 for one location in front of the
breakwater). The results indicated how quickly the scour
would develop in a year and multiple realisations of that
year enabled an assessment of the variability in scour
depth formation after one year. Because of the influence
of the reflected wave field on the incoming waves the bed
shear stresses were larger than the critical values for much
of the time at the selected location. At other positions in
front of the breakwater and at other sites with more
resistant clay the scour development would be less fast.

Figure 8. Overhead photograph of end result of one of the physical

model tests with a static protection design

Work on scour at suction caisson foundations –

monopile and tripod solutions – has been completed by
Whitehouse (2004) and Whitehouse et al (2004). The
skirted foundations tested in this work had a diameter of
19m and a skirt tip depth of 9.5m. Tests were performed
to determine the scour development in currents and waves
and the results showed that in a vigorous scour
environment, with adequate depth of soil, scour
development could take place to a significant depth
compared with the skirt tip depth. It was also shown that
scour could be mitigated using an engineered rock dump
placed around the foundation.

IV. LONG-TERM CHANGES

The challenge presented in understanding beach Figure 9. Example of the prediction of increase scour depth in clay in
lowering and local scour for coastal structures is akin to front of a breakwater over a period of one-year
the problem offshore, where allowance for scour at
structures is required for both general scour and local Systematic changes related to the changes in the
scour. geomorphology have been made possible over periods of
The forced response with a structure in place can be a year, for example the height, wavelength and migration
determined using the time-stepping method presented in of sandwaves can be predicted reasonably well
Whitehouse (1998). This can be applied with a time-series (Whitehouse et al, 2004). Taking a single record of
of inputs and target functions for the equilibrium scour sandwaves it is possible to assess the exceedance of crests
depth and the timescale function. HR Wallingford has or troughs by fitting a Rayleigh distribution (e.g.
applied this approach to the prediction of scour at offshore O’Connor, 1992). At coastal sites the evaluation of toe
windfarm foundations using the DNV guidance (DNV, scour needs to take place within a framework that
2004) to provide the target functions. This allows the recognizes the longer-term trends in beach levels
variation in time to be assessed and more importantly the (Sutherland et al, 2006a). Where a good dataset exists
exceedance of particular scour depths to be analysed for historical trend analysis can be used to assess how future
the lifetime of the structure. Høgedal and Hald (2005) changes might take place or prediction can be made using
have examined the interaction of scour and fatigue loads various more complex approaches.
on a monopile foundation. Finally, there will be more random changes in bed level
Recently it has also been possible to take a long term associated with the large-scale and long-term movements
approach to the assessment of scour in a soft clay soil at a of sediments on the seabed. For example it might be
marine breakwater site. The wave forcing over a period of important to determine whether the bed level at a
more than 10 years at 3 hour intervals in absence of the particular location will drop below a certain level over a
breakwater was determined using wave modelling. The period of decades. On the basis of some historical data for
corresponding field of wave kinematics for a distance of bed level changes and with a representative time-series of
up to 100m in front of the structure was determined using hydrodynamic forcing it is possible to apply a prediction
the spectral method of O’Donoghue and Sutherland model; HR Wallingford has developed and applied a
(1999). This provided statistics on the mean, minimum Stochastic Bed Level Model which allows predictions to
be made over periods of decades. Multiple (e.g. 30) numbers (<1) is required for rubble mound breakwater
realisations of the prediction allows the mean, minimum and caisson roundheads. Some information on the effect
and maximum exceedance probability to be determined of a current is available (Sumer and Fredsøe, 2002) but an
for a site. This has applications to projects where it is improved understanding of the influence of a net current
important to understand the depth to which the seabed flowing past the end of the breakwater on processes and
may drop during the lifetime of a structure, such as a scour at the roundhead is still required.
skirted foundation or a pipe trenched to some depth below Assessing scour in real soils continues to be a challenge
the seabed. yielded by the spatial, vertical and temporal variation in
soil conditions. The sour hazard of a range of real soils
V. SUMMARY OF REFERENCE MATERIALS needs to be further clarified as it has not been possible to
Since the early publications by Xie (1981) and Herbich date to find a unique relationship between geotechnical
et al (1984) amongst others, there has been a large measures of soil properties and a hydraulic measure of
increase in the information published in books and resistance to erosion. So improvements are needed in the
manuals that is available on the topic of scouring and correlation between geotechnical measures and hydraulic
scour protection in the marine environment. It is thought estimates of erosion – the work of Annandale (1995,
useful to list the available material (that the author is 2006) on the Erodibility Index provides a useful approach
aware of) here – full references are given at the end of the for converting geotechnical measures into erosion
paper. The author apologises in advance for any omissions parameters and has been used in the UK to evaluate the
and would be pleased to be informed of any new erosion resistance of chalk based substrates.
developments not listed. A conceptual model for scour in a range of sediments is
 Herbich et al (1984) given in Fig. 10 but this requires quantification in general
terms and in terms of scour at specific structures. If sand
 Breusers and Raudkivi (1991) is taken as the benchmark case then in general terms the
 Hoffmans and Verheij (1997) erodibility is expected to decrease for coarser and finer
 Van Rijn (1998) soils, although muds and clays may be quite variable in
their response as is discussed below. Also in some
 Whitehouse (1998)
sediments it is expected that the scour will increase with
 Melville and Coleman (2000) increased hydraulic forcing through storm waves whereas
 Schiereck (2001) in other sediments it may actually lead to a decrease in the
 HEC-RAS (2001) scour depth. The role of wave-induced liquefaction also
needs to be considered (Sumer, 2006), and the soils
 May et al (2002) subject to risk of liquefaction are indicated in Fig. 10.
 Sumer and Fredsøe (2002)
 Annandale (2006) Conceptual model of the relative scour depth for different sediments in the marine environment
Normal' current plus wave conditions

 USACE (2006) High

 CIRIA (2007) range of scour protection

materials
The experience from river engineering such as is Scour
Depth
presented in Melville and Coleman (2000), HEC-RAS
(2001) and May et al (2002) is also valuable for the
marine context.
Therefore it can be concluded that the scour literature Low
stiff clay mud sandy muddy sand gravel pebbles cobbles
has matured in recent years with the large amount of effort clay mud sand

that has gone into the preparation of these reference Sediment Type
sources. decreasing
mobility or
erodibility
VI. RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT NEEDS
increasing
time for
The information listed in Section V as well as the paper scouring
by Sumer et al (2001) provide the state-of-the-art Tendency for scour to increase or decrease during extreme wave event (based on present knowledge)
information on scour at a large variety of coastal
structures. However there are still a number of key areas stiff
clay
clay mud sandy
mud
muddy
sand
sand gravel pebbles cobbles

requiring R&D to improve understanding and knowledge liquefaction risk

as well as predictive capability.

The predictors for toe scour at seawalls are based on
Figure 10. Conceptual model of the relative scour depth for different
small and medium-scale (e.g. 1:30 physical scale) sediments
laboratory tests with some field data for validation. There
is very little data on scour from large scale laboratory tests The resistance to erosion provided by clay still needs to
to confirm the conclusions and scaling parameters. It be examined further; whilst firm clay with undrained
would be very valuable to obtain data from a series of shear strength of 100kPa is probably able to resist erosion
tests in a large scale laboratory flume (e.g. 1:5 physical in the open sea marine environment it can be eroded in
scale or better) with varying beach slopes and sediments tidal rivers. Jiang et al (2004) observed a scour depth of
for vertical and sloping seawalls. 5m adjacent to an oil-unloading terminal in firm clay. So
Information on bed processes, shear stress and scour it is clear that in some environments it is necessary to treat
development in waves at low Keulegan Carpenter stiff clay as a scour hazard.
 It may be necessary to develop in-situ methods to water levels, increased storminess and storm persistence,
measure soil response to hydraulic forcing. The work of or changes in prevailing wave direction. An application to
Briaud et al (1999) testing soil samples in the Erosion coastal defence vulnerability was made by Sutherland and
Function Apparatus (EFA) provides one way forward but Gouldby (2003) including an assessment of climate
there are other methods that can be used to estimate the change on overtopping of structures by waves and
erosion resistance including SedErode (Mitchener et al, longshore transport of sediment. This approach could be
1996) and SERF (Jiang et al, 2004); a review of erosion extended to include an assessment of scour hazard and
devices was made by Black and Paterson (1997) and thereby work out the sensitivities to climate change.
Annandale (2006). Information and approaches for
predicting the erosion, transport and deposition of sands VII. CONCLUSIONS
and muds have been published by (amongst others) There is a large amount of information currently
Soulsby (1997) and Whitehouse et al (2000). For erosion available on the development and prediction of scour at
of marine sediments comprising mixtures of mud and sand marine structures, and well established methods exist for
the work of Mitchener et al (1996) and Winterwerp and the investigation of flow processes and scour using
van Kesteren (2004) is useful. Using appropriate laboratory models or computational techniques. A
equipment it may be possible to develop a site specific number of interesting project examples have been
relation between shear strength or other bulk sediment presented in the paper.
properties and the erosion shear stress and erosion rate in
situ can be derived. In most cases it is possible to make a good estimate of
scour based on the literature using the scour hazard
Time series methods offer attractive ways to investigate approach in Fig. 1. There will still be cases where
the exceedance probability for scour to occur at a structure complex structures need to be investigated, or the
but require suitable input data for the equilibrium scour information required is outside of the parameter range of
depth, the timescale for scour and a sufficiently long-term existing experimental data. There will also be cases
series of inputs. This requires the combination of field where liquefaction (Sumer, 2006) or shear failures and
measurements to determine the correlation between flow slides need to be assessed (Hoffmans and Verheij,
waves, tidal, oceanic and wind forced currents and 1997).
numerical modelling to extend the time series over periods
of years. To understand the local effects on the flow field One area that continues to be of particular interest is in
it may be appropriate to apply numerical CFD assessing the scour response and equilibrium scour depth
(Computational Fluid Dynamics) panel models based on for real mixtures of soil. Also some challenges remain
potential flow. In some applications it will be necessary where the impact of local scour needs to be considered in
to apply sophisticated models with turbulence closure as the framework of the longer-term natural changes that
input data for scour assessments or analysis of the stability might have taken place without the structure in place.
of scour protection. This type of CFD analysis has been Finally a number of recommendations for research and
used to good effect in analysing the scour development at development have been made to take the state-of-
a deep-water piled coastal jetty by representing the overall knowledge further forwards.
flow interaction between individual pile elements in a
complex grouping in fast tidal flow. VIII. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The collation of (existing) data for the development of The author acknowledges discussions with colleagues
scour around large diameter piles in waves and currents is at HR Wallingford and elsewhere on the topics associated
required to determine the response to alternating periods with this paper. The views expressed are those of the
of strong wave and strong current forcing. HR author.
Wallingford is currently leading a Department of Trade
and Industry project bringing together data on scour IX. REFERENCES
observed through bathymetric monitoring obtained from a
[1] Annandale, G.W. (1995). Erodibility. Journal of Hydraulic
number of built offshore windfarm projects. Research, 33 (4), 471-494.
In the wider context there would be tangible benefits of [2] Annandale, G.W. (2006). Scour technology. Mechanics and
collating field data on scour at structures from operating engineering practice. Mc Graw-Hill.
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