<p>Motivated by a real-world engineering project, this study explores the temporal development of scour depth and the morphology of scour pits around suction bucket foundations in silty clay subjected to unidirectional currents, through controlled laboratory flume experiments. The findings indicate that: (1) the maximum scour depth of the triple suction bucket foundation demonstrates substantial variation around the threshold flow velocity for silty clay <i>U</i>_c = 0.4 m/s. Within a specific range, scour depth exhibits inverse relationship with bucket spacing and aspect ratio, while showing direct proportionality to flow velocity and exposed soil height. A robust functional relationship exists between scour depth and time under various conditions. The scour pit depth varies between the front and rear buckets, as well as between the inner and outer sides of the rear bucket. The disparity in scour depth between the rear and front buckets increases with rising flow velocity. (3) Analysis of field survey data from the engineering site reveals that the experimental results deviate smaller than 12% from the observed average scour pit depth, demonstrating strong correlation with actual conditions. Additionally, a proportional relationship between scour pit depth and width is derived from the field data, offering guidance for scour assessment and protection of triple suction bucket foundations in deep-sea silty clay environments.</p>