Near-wake flow structure of a suspended cylindrical canopy patch

Abstract

Urban stormwater is an important environmental problem, especially for metropolitans worldwide. The most important issue behind this problem is the need to find green infrastructure solutions, which provide water treatment and retention. Floating treatment wetlands, which are porous patches that continue down from the free-surface with a gap between the patch and bed, are innovative instruments for nutrient management in lakes, ponds, and slow-flowing waters. Suspended cylindrical vegetation patches in open channels affect the flow dramatically, which causes a deviation from the logarithmic law. This study considered the velocity measurements along the flow depth, at the axis of the patch, and at the near-wake region of the canopy, for different submerged ratios with different patch porosities. The results of this experimental study provide a comprehensive picture of the effects of different submergence ratios and different porosities on the flow field at the near-wake region of the suspended vegetation patch. The flow field was described with velocity and turbulence distributions along the axis of the patch, both upstream and downstream of the vegetation patch. Mainly, it was found that suspended porous canopy patches with a certain range of densities (SVF20 and SVF36 corresponded to a high density of patches in this study) have considerable impacts on the flow structure, and to a lesser extent, individual patch elements also have a crucial role.