Local Scour Around Marine Structures: A Comprehensive Review of Influencing Factors, Prediction Methods, and Future Directions

Local scour is a phenomenon of sediment erosion and transport caused by the dynamic interaction between water flow and seabed sediment, posing a serious threat to the safety of marine engineering structures such as cross-sea bridges and offshore wind turbines. To improve scour prediction and prevent...

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Main Authors: Bingchuan Duan, Duoyin Wang, Chenxi Qin, Lunliang Duan
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-06-01
Series:Buildings
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2075-5309/15/12/2125
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author Bingchuan Duan
Duoyin Wang
Chenxi Qin
Lunliang Duan
author_facet Bingchuan Duan
Duoyin Wang
Chenxi Qin
Lunliang Duan
author_sort Bingchuan Duan
collection DOAJ
description Local scour is a phenomenon of sediment erosion and transport caused by the dynamic interaction between water flow and seabed sediment, posing a serious threat to the safety of marine engineering structures such as cross-sea bridges and offshore wind turbines. To improve scour prediction and prevention capabilities, this review systematically analyzes the influence mechanisms of factors such as hydrodynamic conditions, sediment characteristics, and structural geometry, and discusses scour protection measures. Based on this, a comprehensive evaluation of the applicability of different prediction methods, including traditional empirical formulas, numerical simulations, probabilistic prediction models, and machine learning (ML) methods, was conducted. The study focuses on analyzing the limitations of existing methods: empirical formulas lack adaptability under complex field conditions, numerical simulation still faces challenges in validating real marine environments, and data-driven models suffer from “black box” issues and insufficient generalization capabilities. Based on the current research progress, this review presents prospects for future development, emphasizing the need to deepen the study of scouring mechanisms in complex real marine environments, develop efficient numerical models for engineering applications, and explore intelligent prediction methods that integrate data-driven approaches with physical mechanisms. This aims to provide more reliable theoretical support for the safe design, risk prevention, and scouring mitigation measures in marine engineering.
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issn 2075-5309
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spelling doaj-art-7f5a6e9c90194347ba2c1dd076ec678d2025-08-20T02:24:34ZengMDPI AGBuildings2075-53092025-06-011512212510.3390/buildings15122125Local Scour Around Marine Structures: A Comprehensive Review of Influencing Factors, Prediction Methods, and Future DirectionsBingchuan Duan0Duoyin Wang1Chenxi Qin2Lunliang Duan3College of River and Ocean Engineering, Chongqing Jiaotong University, Chongqing 400074, ChinaCollege of River and Ocean Engineering, Chongqing Jiaotong University, Chongqing 400074, ChinaCollege of River and Ocean Engineering, Chongqing Jiaotong University, Chongqing 400074, ChinaCollege of River and Ocean Engineering, Chongqing Jiaotong University, Chongqing 400074, ChinaLocal scour is a phenomenon of sediment erosion and transport caused by the dynamic interaction between water flow and seabed sediment, posing a serious threat to the safety of marine engineering structures such as cross-sea bridges and offshore wind turbines. To improve scour prediction and prevention capabilities, this review systematically analyzes the influence mechanisms of factors such as hydrodynamic conditions, sediment characteristics, and structural geometry, and discusses scour protection measures. Based on this, a comprehensive evaluation of the applicability of different prediction methods, including traditional empirical formulas, numerical simulations, probabilistic prediction models, and machine learning (ML) methods, was conducted. The study focuses on analyzing the limitations of existing methods: empirical formulas lack adaptability under complex field conditions, numerical simulation still faces challenges in validating real marine environments, and data-driven models suffer from “black box” issues and insufficient generalization capabilities. Based on the current research progress, this review presents prospects for future development, emphasizing the need to deepen the study of scouring mechanisms in complex real marine environments, develop efficient numerical models for engineering applications, and explore intelligent prediction methods that integrate data-driven approaches with physical mechanisms. This aims to provide more reliable theoretical support for the safe design, risk prevention, and scouring mitigation measures in marine engineering.https://www.mdpi.com/2075-5309/15/12/2125local scourmarine structurescour predictionnumerical simulationmachine learningsediment transport
spellingShingle Bingchuan Duan
Duoyin Wang
Chenxi Qin
Lunliang Duan
Local Scour Around Marine Structures: A Comprehensive Review of Influencing Factors, Prediction Methods, and Future Directions
Buildings
local scour
marine structure
scour prediction
numerical simulation
machine learning
sediment transport
title Local Scour Around Marine Structures: A Comprehensive Review of Influencing Factors, Prediction Methods, and Future Directions
title_full Local Scour Around Marine Structures: A Comprehensive Review of Influencing Factors, Prediction Methods, and Future Directions
title_fullStr Local Scour Around Marine Structures: A Comprehensive Review of Influencing Factors, Prediction Methods, and Future Directions
title_full_unstemmed Local Scour Around Marine Structures: A Comprehensive Review of Influencing Factors, Prediction Methods, and Future Directions
title_short Local Scour Around Marine Structures: A Comprehensive Review of Influencing Factors, Prediction Methods, and Future Directions
title_sort local scour around marine structures a comprehensive review of influencing factors prediction methods and future directions
topic local scour
marine structure
scour prediction
numerical simulation
machine learning
sediment transport
url https://www.mdpi.com/2075-5309/15/12/2125
work_keys_str_mv AT bingchuanduan localscouraroundmarinestructuresacomprehensivereviewofinfluencingfactorspredictionmethodsandfuturedirections
AT duoyinwang localscouraroundmarinestructuresacomprehensivereviewofinfluencingfactorspredictionmethodsandfuturedirections
AT chenxiqin localscouraroundmarinestructuresacomprehensivereviewofinfluencingfactorspredictionmethodsandfuturedirections
AT lunliangduan localscouraroundmarinestructuresacomprehensivereviewofinfluencingfactorspredictionmethodsandfuturedirections