Effects of Submerged Vegetation Arrangement Patterns and Density on Flow Structure

Aquatic vegetation appears very often in rivers and floodplains, which significantly affects the flow structure. In this study, experiments have been conducted to investigate the effects of submerged vegetation arrangement patterns and density on flow structure. Deflected and non-bending vegetation...

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Main Authors: Mahboubeh Barahimi, Jueyi Sui
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2023-01-01
Series:Water
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/15/1/176
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author Mahboubeh Barahimi
Jueyi Sui
author_facet Mahboubeh Barahimi
Jueyi Sui
author_sort Mahboubeh Barahimi
collection DOAJ
description Aquatic vegetation appears very often in rivers and floodplains, which significantly affects the flow structure. In this study, experiments have been conducted to investigate the effects of submerged vegetation arrangement patterns and density on flow structure. Deflected and non-bending vegetation is arranged in square and staggered configurations in the channel bed of a large-scale flume. Results showed that the staggered configuration leads to intensified streamwise velocity, turbulence kinetic energy (TKE), and Reynolds shear stress (RSS) compared to the square configuration. When vegetation density is low (λ = 0.04 and λ = 0.07), the produced wake in the rear of the vegetation is more expansive than that with high vegetation density (λ = 0.09 and λ = 0.17) because the velocity in the center of four vegetation elements is lower than that in the middle of two vegetation elements with low vegetation density. Results of TKE in the wake zone of the deflected vegetation indicate that the maximum root-mean-square velocity fluctuations of flow occur at the sheath section (z/H = 0.1) and the top of the vegetation (z/H = 0.4). In the wake zone behind the vegetation elements, the maximum value of the RSS occurred slightly above the interface between deflected vegetation and the non-vegetation layer, showing the Kelvin–Helmholtz instability that is associated with inflectional points of the longitudinal velocity. Within the range of vegetation density in this study (0.04 < λ ≈< 0.23), as the vegetation density increases, the negative and positive values of RSS throughout the flow depth increase.
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spelling doaj.art-65d3bbe455d34b008c4bb4e56ff030cd2023-12-02T01:16:18ZengMDPI AGWater2073-44412023-01-0115117610.3390/w15010176Effects of Submerged Vegetation Arrangement Patterns and Density on Flow StructureMahboubeh Barahimi0Jueyi Sui1School of Engineering, University of Northern British Columbia, Prince George, BC V2N 4Z9, CanadaSchool of Engineering, University of Northern British Columbia, Prince George, BC V2N 4Z9, CanadaAquatic vegetation appears very often in rivers and floodplains, which significantly affects the flow structure. In this study, experiments have been conducted to investigate the effects of submerged vegetation arrangement patterns and density on flow structure. Deflected and non-bending vegetation is arranged in square and staggered configurations in the channel bed of a large-scale flume. Results showed that the staggered configuration leads to intensified streamwise velocity, turbulence kinetic energy (TKE), and Reynolds shear stress (RSS) compared to the square configuration. When vegetation density is low (λ = 0.04 and λ = 0.07), the produced wake in the rear of the vegetation is more expansive than that with high vegetation density (λ = 0.09 and λ = 0.17) because the velocity in the center of four vegetation elements is lower than that in the middle of two vegetation elements with low vegetation density. Results of TKE in the wake zone of the deflected vegetation indicate that the maximum root-mean-square velocity fluctuations of flow occur at the sheath section (z/H = 0.1) and the top of the vegetation (z/H = 0.4). In the wake zone behind the vegetation elements, the maximum value of the RSS occurred slightly above the interface between deflected vegetation and the non-vegetation layer, showing the Kelvin–Helmholtz instability that is associated with inflectional points of the longitudinal velocity. Within the range of vegetation density in this study (0.04 < λ ≈< 0.23), as the vegetation density increases, the negative and positive values of RSS throughout the flow depth increase.https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/15/1/176deflected vegetationnon-bending vegetationvegetation densityReynolds shear stressturbulence kinetic energyflow structure
spellingShingle Mahboubeh Barahimi
Jueyi Sui
Effects of Submerged Vegetation Arrangement Patterns and Density on Flow Structure
Water
deflected vegetation
non-bending vegetation
vegetation density
Reynolds shear stress
turbulence kinetic energy
flow structure
title Effects of Submerged Vegetation Arrangement Patterns and Density on Flow Structure
title_full Effects of Submerged Vegetation Arrangement Patterns and Density on Flow Structure
title_fullStr Effects of Submerged Vegetation Arrangement Patterns and Density on Flow Structure
title_full_unstemmed Effects of Submerged Vegetation Arrangement Patterns and Density on Flow Structure
title_short Effects of Submerged Vegetation Arrangement Patterns and Density on Flow Structure
title_sort effects of submerged vegetation arrangement patterns and density on flow structure
topic deflected vegetation
non-bending vegetation
vegetation density
Reynolds shear stress
turbulence kinetic energy
flow structure
url https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/15/1/176
work_keys_str_mv AT mahboubehbarahimi effectsofsubmergedvegetationarrangementpatternsanddensityonflowstructure
AT jueyisui effectsofsubmergedvegetationarrangementpatternsanddensityonflowstructure