This product is available for group registration. Learn More

View Important Policies and System Requirements for this course

INSTRUCTOR: 
David T. Williams, Ph.D., P.E., PH, CPESC, F.EWRI, F.ASCE

Course Length: 2 hours

Purpose and Background

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers "Hydrologic Engineering Center" HEC-RAS software is the primary tool used in the water resources industry for hydraulic analysis. Because of its popularity for regular hydraulic analysis, it has also been popular for performing bridge scour analyses. The ease of using HEC-RAS for scour analyses is seducing in that an engineer can perform a successful analysis, but he or she may not have a full understanding of what the program is doing when performing the scour calculations. In addition, the bridge scour algorithms in HEC-RAS are based upon Hydraulic Engineering Circular No. 18 (2001) but the latest was released in April 2012. Since the HEC-RAS Version 3.0.1 was issued, HEC has not updated Version 5.0.6 based upon the HEC-18 document released in 2012. This webinar discusses subtle errors that can occur and explain the updates that were not input to HEC-RAS. It presents examples to illustrate the potential errors and compared to the HEC-18 updates with discussions on their ramification on the HEC-RAS results.

Primary Discussion Topics

• Assumption of channel lateral movement for pier scour
• Wisdom of using a range of flows for analyses
• Assuring there is no double counting of scour components
• To use or not to use HEC-RAS

Benefits and Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of this course, you will be able to:

• Explain the implications of HEC-18 in respect to using HEC-RAS
• Set up your model for abutment, pier and contraction scour analyses
• Locate the resources to assist in bridge scour analyses are
• Explain the important updates to HEC-18 are not in HEC-RAS
• Analyze complex piers for scour
• Determine what important items to examine for pier scour
• Explain the underlying equations for pier, abutment and contraction scour
• Explain the built-in safety factors for pier and abutment scour
• Find alternatives to the use of HEC-RAS for bridge scour
• Indicate when to use 1-D or 2-D models for bridge scour

Assessment of Learning Outcomes

Students' achievement of the learning outcomes will be assessed via a short post-assessment (true-false, multiple choice and fill in the blank questions).

Who Should Attend?

• Anyone with a working knowledge of HEC-RAS and understanding of the concepts of bridge scour
• Bride scour engineers
• Reviewers of bridge scour studies
• Hydraulic and hydrologic engineers

Outline

• General comments on presentation
• Location of pier scour depth
• Appropriate V1Y1
• Effects of different flows
• Abutment scour
• Top width of scour hole
• General comments on using hec-ras
• Resources related to bridge scour

How to Earn your CEUs/PDHs

This online course is worth .2 CEUs/2 PDHs. To receive your certificate of completion, you will need to complete a short on-line post-test and receive a passing score of 70% or higher within 365 days of the purchase.

How do I convert CEUs to PDHs?

1.0 CEU = 10 PDHs [Example: 0.1 CEU = 1 PDH]