Application Of Fuzzy Logic In The Assessment Of River Flow Characteristics At The Pier Scour

urrently; there is no well-established technique for a bridge inspector to follow when assessing the river flow effect to the scour depth at a bridge pier. The assessment of a bridge scour is normally based on subjective procedures that are costly, time consuming, uncertain and has a personal bias. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to propose the fuzzy logic technique in assessing the river flow characteristics at the upstream of the bridge (flow depth (Y1); discharge (Q1); velocity (V1); and flow area (A1)), which are resulted scouring at the pier foundation. In order to achieve the objective of this research, an example problem is presented to illustrate the use of the proposed methodology on a hypothetical bridge model across Cherul River at Ban Ho, Terengganu, Malaysia. From the research, the severity of scour condition at the pier foundation can be determined and this information will be useful for a bridge engineer to provide the relevant countermeasure or prevention method. Finally; this approach can assist a bridge engineer in making a rational decision for carrying out the bridge maintenance programme based on data taken from regular bridge inspection