Computational Modeling of 2D Mangrove Forests for Scour Mitigation around Bridge Piers

Bridge scour at piers is a major problem for design and for maintaining old infrastructure. The current methods require their own upkeep and there may be better ways to mitigate scour. I looked to the mangrove forests of coastal environments for inspiration and have developed a 2D model to test the efficacy of placing a mangrove-root inspired system to mitigate scour. My model tests the hydrodynamics of the root systems, but there are additional benefits that can be used as bioinspiration in the future (altering the surrounding chemistry and mechanical properties of the soil).Adding a mangrove inspired minipile system to bridge piers changes scour parameters within my 2D COMSOL models. For the volume of material added, the minipiles compare favorably to larger sacrificial piles as they reduce A_wcz and 〖τ'〗_max by similar (or even better) amounts. These two parameters are indicators of scour in the field. Within the minipile experiments, it is more beneficial to place them upstream of the main bridge pier as their own ‘mangrove forest.’ The value of A_wcz and 〖τ'〗_max for complex 2D models of scour is unclear and physical experiments need to be performed. The model geometry is based on the dimensions of the experimental flume to be used in future studies and the model results have not yet been verified through experiments and field trials. Scale effects may be present which cannot be accounted for in the 2D models. Therefore future work should be conducted to test ‘mangrove forest’ minipile systems in 3D space, in flume experiments, and in field trials.