A SCOUR DEPTH APPROACH FOR DERIVING ERODIBILITY PARAMETERS FROM JET EROSION TESTS

Typically the erosion rate of cohesive soils is modeled using the excess shear stress equation, which includes two soil parameters: the erodibility coefficient (k(d)) and the critical shear stress (tau(c)). A jet erosion test (JET) is a standardized method available for deriving the erodibility of cohesive soils. The JET data are typically analyzed using a Blaisdell solution approach. A second solution approach based on direct parameter optimization to the measured scour depth data has recently been proposed but with limited evaluation. Therefore, the objectives of this research were to: (1) develop a new spreadsheet tool that simultaneously solves for the erodibility parameters using both solution approaches, (2) evaluate the solutions in terms of their ability to predict the observed scour depth data, and (3) quantify differences in the predicted erodibility parameters from the two approaches. A series of JETs conducted across the Illinois River watershed in eastern Oklahoma were used to evaluate the performance of the spreadsheet and the solution methodologies. The new scour depth solution provided improved fits to the original scour depth data along with being more stable in converging to a solution as a function of the initial parameter estimates. The automated spreadsheet provides an easy-to-use tool for deriving erodibilizy parameters from JETs.