First International Conference on Scour of Foundations (ICSF-1)to be held November 17 - 20, 2002 at Texas A&M University

Texas A&M Transportation Institute, College Station TX

Investigators

Abstract

This action is to provide partial support for the First International Conference on Scour of Foundations (ICSF-1), to be held 17-20 November 2002 at Texas A&M University. The scouring of bridge foundations during flood conditions is an area of major concern to transportation officials. Poor correlation exists between calculated and observed scour depths, primarily because scour prediction equations developed under laboratory conditions do not adequately account for all the variables found in the field. Scour is a major problem in the United States. From 1961 to 1991, 1000 bridges collapsed and 600 of these collapses were due to scour, and lives were lost. The scour phenomenon is a water-soil interaction phenomenon which needs to be addressed through the cooperation of a number of disciplines, including hydraulic engineering, geotechnical engineering, hydrology, structural engineering, and construction. This conference will bring these disciplines together and enhance the participation of geotechnical engineers in solving this problem. The objectives of this conference are: 1. To present and collect the latest international information on scour of foundations. 2. To promote international discussion on research and practice of scour of foundations. 3. To organize a prediction event to evaluate the precision of scour prediction methods. 4. To promote the involvement of geotechnical engineers in the study of scour. The topics to be addressed include: scour of foundations, erosion of soils, scour at bridges, dams, offshore platforms, underwater pipelines, prediction of scour depth including pier scour, abutment scour, contraction scour, general degradation and aggradation, meander migration, countermeasures selection and design, monitoring, scour in gravel, sand, silt, clay and rock, laboratory measurements of erosion properties, field studies, case histories, failures and successes, international guidelines and practices, numerical modeling, model tests, field inspection, databases.