Scour and burial mechanics of conical frustums on a sandy bed under combined flow conditions

The scour and burial of conical frustums placed on a sandy bed under waves alone (WA) and combined flows (CF) conditions was investigated. The observations indicate that equilibrium burial depth is smaller than burial of other objects such as short cylinders laying on a sand bed under equivalent hydrodynamic conditions. Truncated cone offers less resistance to the flow field due to its more round shape when compared to a horizontally placed short cylinder characterized by sharp edges. A smaller disruption to the flow field translates to less turbulent intensity and to smaller sediment transport capacity of the flow around the object and less burial. The equilibrium burial depth shows a significantly weaker dependency on the Shields parameter than on the Keulegan-Carpenter number, contrary to the case of finite short cylinders. A new empirical predictor based on the relative strength of the wave to the wave plus current velocity, the Keulegan-Carpenter number, and the Shields parameter is proposed for estimating the equilibrium burial of truncated cones under combined flows. Both the Keulegan-Carpenter number and the Shields parameter determine the width of the scour hole around the cone. The former however, is the most dominant parameter influencing the length of the scour hole. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.