Mapping the Erosion Characteristics of the Swan River

Mapping the Erosion Characteristics of the Swan River

Supervisor

• Henning Mohr
  Research Fellow, Oceans Graduate School

Students

• Kavit Bhatia
• Benjamin Ryles

Project Description

The net movement of sediment (i.e. scour) around subsea structures can be difficult to predict in practice, but must be estimated accurately to ensure offshore structures are designed reliably. Much of the difficulty lies in predicting the erosion properties of sediment, and then using these properties to estimate scour. As part of a previous Riverlab project, anin-situerosion flume wasdeveloped to measure erosion properties in the field. The newlydesigned flumepumpswaterthrough a ductover a specified testing area of the river bed while simultaneously gathering erosion measurementsusing acoustic sensors. Trial experiments were successfully conductedin the Swan River determining erosion properties of the river bed.

The proposed follow-up project comprises the design of accessories needed to facilitate the deployment of the flume and to carry out the erosion testing (e.g. transportation system for the batteries, rugged design for electronics, changes to the flume design). Using a revisedflume system, erosion properties will be collected at multiple location across the Swan River with the aim to usethese erosion measurements to predict scour around bridges,such as the Fremantle traffic bridge.