COMPUTERIZED DATA BASE MANAGEMENT AND ANALYSIS SYSTEM FOR FIELD-COLLECTED SCOUR DATA

The scouring of the piers supporting highway bridges has come to be recognized as a major problem facing the highway engineer. It is becoming increasingly obvious that bridges that face possible scour situations must be monitored during their lifetimes. Much data will be collected during the monitoring phase. A computerized system for the storage, organization, analysis, and display of field-collected scour data is described. The system accepts input from the user, and on the basis of user specification, allows the data to be organized and viewed in a variety of formats. These formats include cross sections from scour measurements at selected locations upstream or downstream of the bridge, longitudinal profiles through a selected pier, and the temporal history of maximum scour activity within a specified area near the bridge. The data may be viewed in tabular as well as graphical formats. In addition, the available scour data were analyzed and used to develop regression equations that related long-term trends in channel degradation to flow and geometric variables. These equations were incorporated into the computer system so that the user could determine if observed trends in channel degradation were likely to continue.