Seahive and Bridge Scour Phase I

Protecting coastal regions is crucial because of high population density and important economic significance. Numerous strategies have been suggested to safeguard coastal regions and bridge piers from scouring, encompassing natural and man-made approaches. Given the constraints of existing techniques, this study examines a new method named SEAHIVE®, which is designed to improve the performance of engineered structures. This method incorporates hexagonal, hollow, and perforated concrete elements, which are reinforced with glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) bars or wraps. To investigate the load-bearing capacity, SEAHIVE® specimens were tested under pure compression (cut-off samples) and flexure (full samples). For specimens under pure compression, analysis, and experimentation showed that cracks started due to exceeding the concrete tensile strength in the inclined leg of the hexagon and eventually led to failure in both elements reinforced with GFRP bars or wraps. In elements reinforced with GFRP bars tested under flexure, the strut-and-tie analysis confirmed that SEAHIVE® beam-like specimens failed because of inadequate development length of longitudinal bars and toe crushing. As for the sample reinforced with GFRP wraps under flexure, cracks initiated due to the slipping and loss of the longitudinal GFRP strips.