Experimental investigation of local scour around a submerged vertical circular cylinder in steady currents

Local scour around a submerged vertical circular cylinder in steady currents was studied by laboratory experiments. The experiments were conducted under live-bed scour conditions. Only one median sediment size of d₅₀ = 0.40 mm was used in the experiments with a uniformity parameter of √d₈₅ / d₁₅ = 1.42. In some of the tests, time-developments of scour depth at the stagnation point of the cylinder were measured using the conductivity scour probes. Three-dimensional (3D) seabed topography around each model cylinder was measured using a laser profiler developed at University of Western Australia. The experimental results showed that the scour depth increased with an increase in cylinder height. The development rate of scour depth increases if Shields parameter increases.