Erosion mechanism of local scour around cushioned caisson on reinforced ground

The scour behavior of cushioned caisson constructed on reinforced ground, which is used to support superstructure constructed in deep water in seismic zones, was investigated by experimental and numerical methods. Flume tests under nine different flow velocities between 18 and 48?cm/s were performed based on hydraulic similarity design. Complementary numerical simulations were also conducted for the flow velocities ranging from 16 to 46?cm/s. Five typical working modes of the foundation under erosion, namely, ideal working, well working, edge failure, shear failure, and total failure, are analyzed together with their potential impacts on seismic-designed foundation. The critical shear stress, local flow structures, and streamlines were used as the key factors to analyze the change of bed materials and the scour characteristics. Fluid–solid interaction model was built by computational fluid dynamics with sediment transport model, and k–ε turbulent model has been implemented to describe the turbulence in the fluid phase typical of scour process. The mechanisms of two possible failure models for the foundation layer elements were identified, based on which recommendations were provided for scour protection to ensure the integrity and performance of seismic-designed foundations. The integrated computational model and model experiments also demonstrate a framework to understand the local scour mechanism for the cushioned caisson on reinforced ground.