Volume 36, Issue 2 (March 2013) Assessment of In Situ Scour
Profile in Sand Using a Jet Probe Work in this paper presents a
device and a process for in situ assessment of erosion potential
with depth. The proposed device is termed “in situ erosion
evaluation probe” (ISEEP), and the process is developed based
upon advancing a rod fitted with a truncated cone jet nozzle
into the soil. As water exits the nozzle with controllable
velocity and flow rate (induced by an external pump) the probe
advances into the subsurface profile and the rate of advancement
is measured. The jet flow velocity and the advancement rate of
the probe are correlated with a stream power value, and used to
estimate soil erodibility parameters. Results from laboratory
testing show the feasibility of the concept. An approach for the
estimation of a critical stream power and a detachment rate
coefficient is presented. Numerical modeling and deployment of
the device at a North Carolina barrier island site after
hurricane Irene are used to demo