The effect of relative surface roughness on scour dimensions at the edge of horizontal apron

Roughened horizontal aprons are bed covering scour countermeasures constructed downstream of stilling basins and other places where scour hole may develop. In these cases scour occurs at the edge of the apron which can lead to failure of the apron. In the present study, 24 experimental tests were carried out on four different aprons with (2, 5, 10 and 14.28 mm) roughness heights and two different bed material sizes of 0.8 and 1.4 mm under different flow conditions. The results indicated that as the roughness height of apron increases, a significant reduction in the scour depth occurs.