Coastal and river bridge scour mitigation using hybrid solutions

Bridges in coastal and inland areas face serious risk from scour, the erosion of sediment around structural foundations caused by waves and currents. These structures serve critical roles in evacuation routes and rural transportation networks, and when they fail, entire communities can be cut off from emergency relief, as seen in the recent Central Texas flash flood disaster. Most bridge failures begin with this hydraulic scour process, yet traditional mitigation methods are expensive and often absent in rural bridge design. This research aims to address that gap by testing affordable hybrid protection techniques that combine bio-cementation (specifically Microbially-Induced Calcium Carbonate Precipitation) and geosynthetics with natural sediment to reduce scour damage. The work will include a literature review of existing scour protection options, physical wave flume testing of various hybrid combinations under wave and current loading, and the development of scour prediction equations to evaluate how well these solutions perform in both coastal and riverine settings.