(Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Myongji University)
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The scouring process is complex and subject to many factors. Recently, experiments for real-time bridge scour monitoring have been active as means for a more reliable scour prediction. Riverbed materials are an important factor in bridge scouring; therefore, an accurate estimation of riverbed material is critical in predicting a scour. As a part of this approach, an ultrasonic sensor, which can not only detect river bottom during floods but can also be installed lose to the underwater structures, was developed. This sensor is able to map the river bottom using an ultrasonic waves with the characteristics of the returning wave, reflected from an object or bottom ground. The reflected wave is unique according to the situations, or materials below. Therefore, it would be possible to identify the consisting materials of a riverbed if we could reveal each characteristic in the received signals. In this study, a preliminary experiment was performed in the laboratory to identify and classify received signals, which is unique to each material. The analysis of this experiment gives the graph, which makes it possible to identify materials of the river bottom through the ultrasonic signals. The proposed graph was verified through a comparison with the actual field data measured in river.