Scour evaluation probe helps minimise infrastructure risks

The probe could be used to help evaluate the safety of civil infrastructure before and after storm events.

Scour, or erosion of soil around structures due to water flow, is responsible for a range of critical infrastructure failures - from unstable bridges to the levees that gave way in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

’The in situ scour evaluation probe, or ISEP, is the first technology that allows technicians in the field to measure the scour potential of soils without the need for excavation,’ said Dr Mo Gabr, a professor of civil, construction and environmental engineering at the university.

Understanding scour potential is important because it can help authorities prepare for, or minimise the impact of, events such as the failure of the levees in the wake of Katrina. Scour has also been linked to approximately 60 per cent of the bridge failures in the US, according to the US Federal Highway Administration.