Development of New Design Guidelines for Protection Against Erosion at Bridge Abutments - Phase IV

Reliable and safe transportation infrastructure design for flooding events is of great economical importance for state and federal agencies in charge of maintaining our roads operational. The US Midwest has experienced increasingly catastrophic flood events. Severe erosion problems were reported at many bridge sites. Two of the most encountered types of abutments used at such bridges are spill-through and wing-wall abutments. Placing riprap stone around the base of a bridge abutment, where the highest stresses generally occur, and over its erodible faces is one of the most common way to protect abutments against erosion. The present research proposes the use of a numerically-based approach to develop improved design formulas for minimum riprap stone size for protection against erosion of spill-through abutments (open channel flow conditions) and wing-wall abutments (pressurized flow due to bridge deck overtopping).

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Completed
• Funding: $149,638
• Contract Numbers:

  69A3551747107

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology

  University Transportation Centers Program
  Department of Transportation
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Managing Organizations:

  Mid-America Transportation Center

  University of Nebraska-Lincoln
  2200 Vine Street, PO Box 830851
  Lincoln, NE  United States  68583-0851
• Project Managers:

  Stearns, Amy

• Performing Organizations:

  University of Iowa, Mechanical and Industrial Engineering

  3100 Seamans Center for the Engineering Arts and Sciences
  Iowa City, Iowa  United States  52242
• Principal Investigators:

  Constantinescu, George

• Start Date: 20200901
• Expected Completion Date: 20210831
• Actual Completion Date: 20211231
• USDOT Program: University Transportation Centers Program
• Source Data: RiP Project 91994-79

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Bridge abutments; Bridge design; Erosion; Erosion control; Flood plains; Froude number; Guidelines; Riprap; Shear stress; Simulation; Validation
• Subject Areas: Bridges and other structures; Design; Highways; Hydraulics and Hydrology;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01776733
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Mid-America Transportation Center
• Contract Numbers: 69A3551747107
• Files: UTC, RIP
• Created Date: Jul 19 2021 10:43PM