Flow characteristics in the wake region of a finite-length vegetation patch in a partly vegetated channel

Abstract

Aquatic vegetation in rivers and coastal regions controls the flow structure in terms of mean velocity and turbulence. The vegetation in the flow affects the transportation of nutrients, microbes, dissolved oxygen, sediment, and contaminants; therefore, the flow characteristics of different types of vegetation layers should be examined in order to understand the effects of vegetation on the flow structure. In this paper, the effect of the submergence ratio and SVF (Solid Volume of Fraction) of a vegetation patch, which was present across half of the channel in a spanwise direction, on the flow structure at the wake region was examined. For this purpose, different submergence ratios with different SVFs were considered in the experiments, and velocity measurements were performed in the wake region of the vegetation layer with an Acoustic Doppler Velocimeter (ADV). According to the results, the effect of different vegetation heights and SVFs on the velocity distribution was obtained. Moreover, inflectional velocity distribution over the cross-section in the wake region of the vegetation layer was obtained, and it was concluded that jet flow occurred in the non-vegetated half of the channel due to the vegetation layer.