Abstract: The spur dikes are in wide use in the waterway regulation works， however， the emergence of complex three-dimensional flow fields around the groyne head usually leads to the development of a local sour hole which may cause failure of the whole project. In this paper， a novel optimization structure type of the spur dike with permeable groyne head made up of tetrahedron pervious frames is proposed to weaken the flow dynamics at the tip of the spur dike， and a few flume experiments have been conducted in order to study the hydrodynamic characteristics and the scour characteristics of the new structures. Comparing to the conventional ones， significant retardation of the mean velocity and reduction of the velocity gradient are observed while the flow passes through the permeable groyne head. Thus， the concentrated flow in the vicinity of the groyne head is dispersed progressively， the downward-flow at the tip of the spur dike is weakened， and the formation of the shedding vortex is also reduced effectively， resulting in reduction of local scour， which is helpful to the stability of the groyne； in addition， the permeable groyne head is helpful to deflect the flow， and push the local scour hole away from the groyne head， which is also favorable to the stability of the groyne head. The influence of the permeability and the length of the pervious groyne head on the local scour is also studied in this research. Experimental studies indicate that there is an optimal permeability of the permeable groyne head making the local scour control the best； within the scope of the concentrated flow in the vicinity of the groyne head， a longer permeable groyne head means a better effect to control the local scour. However， when the length of the permeable groyne head exceeds this scope， there are no significant effects on the reduction of the local scour as the length of the groyne head increases.