Published Resources Details
Journal Article
- Title
- Flow loads on bridge piers
- In
- Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia
- Imprint
- vol. 37, no. 7-8, Jul-Aug 1965, pp. 185-191
- Description
Paper No.1595, presented before a General Meeting of the Brisbane Division on 25th March, 1960.
The author, C. J. Apelt, BE DPhil(Oxon) AMIEAust, is Reader in Civil Engineering, University of Queensland.[This paper was awarded the R. W. Chapman Medal 1965]
- Abstract
The topography of many bridge sites on streams of the eastern coastal strip of Australia is such that the piers supporting the bridge must be of heights of the order of 50 ft. In many of these streams floods of this height occur relatively frequently and the associated velocities of flow are high. In such circumstances, if the piers are at an angle to the direction of flow, a conventional type of pier will be subjected to large transverse loads which are hydrodynamic in origin. There is little published information about the magnitude of these loads and model tests have been carried out at the University of Queensland to obtain data on this subject. The paper describes these tests and the results obtained for several types of pier. The large transverse loads shown to be experienced by the conventional type of pier raise problems for the designer and it would seem to be of value to attempt to design a pier which does not suffer in this way when subjected to angled flows. Some possible solutions to the problem are discussed.