Abstract

REYNARES, Marcela L.; SCACCHI, Graciela B.; POSSI, María Luisa  and  SCHREIDER, Mario I.. Protección de estribos de puentes mediante el uso de muros guía. Tecnol. cienc. agua [online]. 2020, vol.11, n.3, pp.158-189.  Epub June 10, 2024. ISSN 2007-2422.  https://doi.org/10.24850/j-tyca-2020-03-05.

This paper analyzes, from laboratory experiments, the influence that the presence of a guide wall formed by piles, driven along a path determined by a quarter ellipse has over the resulting scours at a bridge abutment. The experimental tasks were carried out in a rectangular flume with a mobile bed formed by uniform sand. The abutment represented was prismatic with vertical walls. A total of 17 tests were carried out, in which the transparency, length and location of the guide wall were varied, with the purpose of contrasting the scours produced at abutment with those found for the same abutment without the presence of any scour countermeasure. The results show that the maximum scour depth depends on the three aspects analyzed. The decreasing tendency of the scour was observed as the transparency of the wall diminished. When the guide walls were arranged next to the wall flume, the reductions in the maximum depth of scour were significant, even for the smallest lengths analyzed (47%). When the guide walls were linked to the face upstream of the abutment (for T = 0%), the scours developed near the end of the guide wall, so that as its length was increased, the greatest depths of the bed moved further away from the abutment. For this last location, the transparency of the guide wall (T ~ 49%) led to erosions similar to the observed one when there was no guide wall.

Keywords : Abutment; bridge; scour countermeasures; guide wall; piers; local scour.