Level II scour analysis for Bridge 81 (MARSUS00020081) on U.S. Highway 2, crossing the Winooski River, Marshfield, Vermont

Open-File Report 97-809
Prepared in cooperation with Vermont Agency of Transportation and Federal Highway Administration
By:

Links

Abstract

This report provides the results of a detailed Level II analysis of scour potential at structure MARSUS00020081 on U.S. Highway 2 crossing the Winooski River, Marshfield, Vermont (figures 1–8). A Level II study is a basic engineering analysis of the site, including a quantitative analysis of stream stability and scour (U.S. Department of Transportation, 1993). Results of a Level I scour investigation also are included in Appendix E of this report. A Level I investigation provides a qualitative geomorphic characterization of the study site. Information on the bridge, gleaned from Vermont Agency of Transportation (VTAOT) files, was compiled prior to conducting Level I and Level II analyses and is found in Appendix D. The site is in the New England Upland section of the New England physiographic province in central Vermont. The 50.2-mi2 drainage area is in a predominantly rural and forested basin. In the vicinity of the study site, the surface cover is pasture upstream of the bridge while the immediate banks have dense woody vegetation. Downstream of the bridge is forested with buildings near the bridge on the right bank. In the study area, the Winooski River has an incised, sinuous channel with a slope of approximately 0.03 ft/ft, an average channel top width of 83 ft and an average bank height of 10 ft. The channel bed material ranges from cobble to boulder with a median grain size (D50) of 64.0 mm (0.210 ft). The geomorphic assessment at the time of the Level I and Level II site visit on July 23, 1996, indicated that the reach was stable. The U.S. Highway 2 crossing of the Winooski River is a 49-ft-long, two-lane bridge consisting of one 47-foot concrete T-beam span (Vermont Agency of Transportation, written communication, November 1, 1995). The opening length of the structure parallel to the bridge face is 44.9 ft. The bridge is supported by vertical, concrete abutments with wingwalls. The channel is skewed approximately 10 degrees to the opening while the opening-skew-to-roadway is zero degrees. A scour hole 1 ft deeper than the mean thalweg depth was observed near the upstream left wingwall during the Level I assessment. The scour protection measures at the site included type-1 stone fill (less than 12 inches diameter) at the upstream end of the upstream left and right wingwall, the downstream end of the downstream left wingwall, and along the upstream left and right banks. There was also type-3 stone fill (less than 48 inches diameter) at the downstream left bank and type-2 stone fill (less than 36 inches diameter) along the downstream right bank. Additional details describing conditions at the site are included in the Level II Summary and Appendices D and E. Scour depths and recommended rock rip-rap sizes were computed using the general guidelines described in Hydraulic Engineering Circular 18 (Richardson and others, 1995) for the 100- and 500-year discharges. In addition, the incipient roadway-overtopping discharge is determined and analyzed as another potential worst-case scour scenario. Total scour at a highway crossing is comprised of three components: 1) long-term streambed degradation; 2) contraction scour (due to accelerated flow caused by a reduction in flow area at a bridge) and; 3) local scour (caused by accelerated flow around piers and abutments). Total scour is the sum of the three components. Equations are available to compute depths for contraction and local scour and a summary of the results of these computations follows. Contraction scour for all modelled flows ranged from 2.1 to 4.2 ft. The worst-case contraction scour occurred at the 500-year discharge. Left abutment scour ranged from 14.3 to 14.4 ft. The worst-case left abutment scour occurred at the incipient roadwayovertopping and 500-year discharge. Right abutment scour ranged from 15.3 to 18.5 ft. The worst-case right abutment scour occurred at the 100-year and the incipient roadwayovertopping discharge. Additional information on scour depths and depths to armoring are included in the section titled “Scour Results”. Scoured-streambed elevations, based on the calculated scour depths, are presented in tables 1 and 2. A cross-section of the scour computed at the bridge is presented in figure 8. Scour depths were calculated assuming an infinite depth of erosive material and a homogeneous particle-size distribution. It is generally accepted that the Froehlich equation (abutment scour) give “excessively conservative estimates of scour depths” (Richardson and others, 1995, p. 47). Usually, computed scour depths are evaluated in combination with other information including (but not limited to) historical performance during flood events, the geomorphic stability assessment, existing scour protection measures, and the results of the hydraulic analyses. Therefore, scour depths adopted by VTAOT may differ from the computed values documented herein.

Study Area

Publication type Report
Publication Subtype USGS Numbered Series
Title Level II scour analysis for Bridge 81 (MARSUS00020081) on U.S. Highway 2, crossing the Winooski River, Marshfield, Vermont
Series title Open-File Report
Series number 97-809
DOI 10.3133/ofr97809
Edition -
Year Published 1997
Language English
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Publisher location Pembroke, NH
Description iv, 50 p.
Country United States
State Vermont
City Marshfield
Other Geospatial Winooski River
Google Analytic Metrics Metrics page
Additional publication details