SPH numerical simulation of local scour downstream of an apron

A method for the numerical prediction of scouring processes is discussed. The method is based on a Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) solution of the flow, coupled with a finite difference solution of the Exner equation for bed evolution. The method is tested against experimental measurements of bed elevation and water velocity obtained in the case of the local scour downstream of a protection apron caused by a planar jet flowing from a sluice gate. The results show that the predicted evolution of position and depth of the maximum scour agrees quite well with the experimental data.