Probe Reveals Hidden Potential for Scour

摘要

ON APRIL 5, 1987, an interstate highway bridge over Schoharie Creek near Amsterdam, New York, suddenly collapsed, costing 10 people their lives. A follow-up investigation attributed the bridge's failure to scour, that is, the erosion of sediment supporting the submerged foundation. Re- cent research suggests that similar disasters mieht be averted bv usine a new type of probe to assess the poten-tial for scour in soils.