Modeling Multiple Spur Schemes to Control Bank Erosion

A natural consequence of the meandering tendencies characteristic of all streams, is streambank erosion. The problem has taken on particular interest recently, focusing on erosion problems associated with highways in river environments. Spurs have become a viable and widely accepted protection device for highways. As the use of spurs has increased so has the need for an examination of associated design parameters. A study to design, construct, and calibrate a physical stream model is conducted in order to obtain data for use in the analysis of spur design parameters, such as placement, spacing, orientation, and number. The experiments are designed to evaluate how effectively various multiple-spur orientation and spacing configurations protect a channel bank. An optimal spur system is found to be one that provides a gradual training of channel flow around the meander bend.