The aim of the study was to indicate the procedure of using laboratory physical model tests of scour around bridge piers for the purposes of determining the potential scour of a riverbed on field bridge crossings. The determination of the uniform modeling scale coefficient according to the criterion of reliable sediment diameter limits the application of the results of tests on physical models to selected types of sediment. The projected depths of scouring of the riverbed at the pier in nature were determined for an object reproduced in the scale of 1:15 determined from the relationship of flow resistance, expressed by hydraulic losses described by the Chézy velocity coefficient, the value of which, in the model and in nature, should be the same. Expressing the value of the Chézy velocity coefficient with the Manning roughness coefficient and introducing the Strickler parameter, it was shown that the coarse sand used in the laboratory bed models the flow resistance corresponding to the resistance generated by gravel in nature. The verification of the calculated size of scouring was based on popular formulas from Russian literature by Begam and Volčenkov [16], Laursen and Toch’s [20] from the English, and use in Poland according to the Regulation ... (Journal of Laws of 2000, No. 63, item 735) [32].