Key Words: local scour, bridge pier, reliability, uncertainty

Reliability-based assessment of local scouring mechanism around bridge piers provides information for decision-making regarding the pier footing design. Parameter uncertainties that may arise from various sources due to the inability to precisely quantify a parameter need to be estimated in order to quantify the level of risk of pier failure during the physical life of a bridge. By examining extensive experimental data from the literature on local scour depth around various shapes of bridge pier the functional dependence of relevant parameters is examined. The degree of uncertainty and the statistical randomness of these parameters are assessed in terms of coefficients of variation and probability distribution functions, respectively