Experimental study of railway bridge scouring and proposal of remedial measures-A case study of bridge number 30, Harrow River.

Bridges are one of the most integral transportation components for connection of remote parts worldwide. The concern of every engineer is with their stability and collapse. One of the issues with bridge stability is bridge pier scouring in perennial and inundation canals as well as rivers, If not properly monitored and precautionary measures not adopted, it can result into bridge collapse. This paper makes an attempt to study the heavy bridge scouring in Railway Bridge (bridge # 30) on Harrow River located at downstream of Khanpur Dam, Pakistan. The study is carried out experimentally on scaled down model of bridge to study the behavior and patterns of scouring in the river bed during and after floods in two phases including 1) investigating the causes of scouring 2) provision and analysis of suitable remedial measures. The scouring that occurred in lab model matched the field patterns. Baffle walls and weir were provided separately as remedial measure but the former failed under initial watering while weir provided on downstream side reduced scouring by 95%.