Abstract
The available scour equations for bridge pier are mostly deterministic in nature, which do not consider uncertainties of various scouring parameters adequately. A reliability-based assessment of bridge pier scour depth is of paramount importance in examining the relationship between safety factor and reliability, which are considered to be key parameters for decision-making in bridge foundation design. A methodology for the reliability assessment of bridge pier scour in non-uniform sediments are presented using the First Order Reliability Method (FORM). To study the influence of various random variables on the pier reliability against the scouring, a sensitivity analysis was carried out. To achieve a desirable safety level in the design of pier foundation, reliability-based safety factors are also proposed. The influence of the correlation among the random variables on the pier reliability was also assessed.