Scour development around structures with non-uniform cylindrical geometries

Many offshore foundations are composed of non-uniform cylindrical geometries such as cones and different diameter composite cylinders. However, little is known about how these types of structure respond with regards to scour under the forcing of a unidirectional current. The present paper describes a series of laboratory experiments that have been performed to examine the effect that the geometry of a marine structure has on the evolution and equilibrium depth of scour under different hydrodynamic conditions. It was found that the hydrodynamic scour response of the non-uniform cylindrical structures is fundamentally different to that of a uniform cylinder.