Measuring Scour Potential to Support Hydraulic Design
Landloch provides specialist Erosion Threshold Velocity (ETV) testing to determine the flow velocity at which soil scour is likely to occur.
Our testing generates site-specific data that can be used by engineers and designers to assess scour risk and inform the design of surface water control structures, infrastructure and rehabilitated landforms.
Managing scour potential is an important consideration in the engineering design of surface water control structures. Erosion Threshold Velocity (ETV), also known as maximum permissible velocity, provides a threshold flow velocity above which scour of a particular soil is likely to occur.
Landloch has developed and utilised specialist procedures where large, undisturbed surface soil samples are collected and subjected to controlled overland flows in a laboratory setting. The resulting data are used to determine ETV values that can inform engineering design and scour risk assessment.
Landloch’s ETV testing procedures have been applied across a range of engineering, infrastructure and rehabilitation projects.
The data generated provide engineers and designers with site-specific information that can be used to develop hydraulic structures and landforms that reduce scour risk.
Testing procedures include:
Where required, measured ETV values can be combined with additional geotechnical and geophysical soil testing to develop statistical relationships between ETV and more readily measured soil properties.
This allows ETV data generated from individual samples to be extended across larger project areas, increasing the practical value and application of the testing results.
Landloch can develop site-specific sampling and ETV testing programs to provide reliable data for scour risk assessment and hydraulic design.
