Resistance, Turbulence and Sediment Transport in the Flow–Vegetation Interaction

A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section "Civil Engineering".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 May 2022) | Viewed by 2858

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Guest Editor
Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile, Università della Calabria, 87040 Rende, Italy
Interests: flow–vegetation interaction; flow resistance

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Guest Editor
Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile, Università della Calabria, 87040 Rende, Italy
Interests: flow–vegetation interaction; flow resistance

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Riparian vegetation, besides strongly affecting river hydraulics, plays a key role in both ecological and habitat aspects and, because of the effect on landscape, has a significant recreational function. From a more strictly technical viewpoint, vegetation clutters up part of the river cross-section, increases the roughness, and reduces the velocity; all this results in increased water levels and reduced water conveyance. Vegetation cover plays an essential role in infiltration and the control of soil erosion in catchments. On the scale of the hydrographic network, vegetation influences the travel time of water particles and infiltration, making the peak flow control easier. As largely recognized today, flow, turbulence, sediment transport, geomorphology, and vegetation constitute an interrelated system.

Despite the huge number of studies carried out, it should be said, however, that in the flow–vegetation interaction, there are still many aspects to be investigated and clarified. We mention just a few of them: the hydraulics of overland flow, drag coefficients, compound sections, the shear stress exerted on the bed and banks, the turbulence, the production and dissipation of turbulent kinetic energy, sediment transport, the action and evolution of finite-sized vegetation patches, interactions between jets and vegetation, processes of transport and dispersion, one-line emergent vegetation, tree uprooting processes, and large wood transport during high flows. These different aspects can be addressed from an experimental point of view, in the laboratory or in the field, as well as numerically. When it is necessary to identify flooded areas, or to perform flood risk assessment, remote sensing can be used to define the different roughness values with the simultaneous use of different remote sensing techniques and direct calibration in the field.

We invite you to provide your contributions to deepen the knowledge of the flow–vegetation interaction, based on theoretical developments, experimental research, and numerical modeling; studies in the field of restoration and maintenance are equally welcome.

Prof. Dr. Francesco Calomino
Dr. Antonino D’Ippolito
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • flow resistance due to rigid/flexible, emergent/submerged vegetation
  • drag coefficient
  • free surface flows
  • turbulence
  • local scouring and sediment transport
  • flooding
  • overland flow
  • soil erosion control
  • remote sensing
  • two-dimensional models
  • CFD models
  • vegetation restoration
  • riparian vegetation maintenance

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

20 pages, 4701 KiB  
Article
Simulation of Accelerated Subcritical Flow Profiles in an Open Channel with Emergent Rigid Vegetation
by Antonino D’Ippolito, Francesco Calomino, Nadia Penna, Subhasish Dey and Roberto Gaudio
Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(14), 6960; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/app12146960 - 09 Jul 2022
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1080
Abstract
Even though both fluid mechanics and numerical studies have considerably progressed in the past decades, experimental knowledge remains an important tool for studying the resistance to flow in fluid media where a complex environment dominates the flow pattern. After a comprehensive review of [...] Read more.
Even though both fluid mechanics and numerical studies have considerably progressed in the past decades, experimental knowledge remains an important tool for studying the resistance to flow in fluid media where a complex environment dominates the flow pattern. After a comprehensive review of the recent literature on the drag coefficient in open channels with emergent rigid vegetation, this paper presents the results related to 29 experimental accelerated subcritical flow profiles (i.e., M2 type) that were observed in flume experiments with emergent stems in a square arrangement at the University of Calabria (Italy). First of all, we used some of the literature formulas for the drag coefficient, concluding that they were unsatisfactory, probably because of their derivation for uniform or quasi-uniform flow conditions. Then, we tested a recently proposed approach, but when we plotted the drag coefficient versus the stem Reynolds number, the calculated drag coefficients showed an inconclusive behavior to interpret. Thus, we proposed a new approach that considers the calibration of the Manning coefficient for the simulation of the free surface profile, and then the evaluation of the drag coefficients based on the fundamental fluid mechanics equations. With the help of classical dimensional analysis, a regression equation was found to estimate the drag coefficients by means of non-dimensional parameters, which include vegetation density, stem Reynolds number and flow Reynolds number computed using the flow depth as characteristic length. This equation was used to simulate all the 26 observed profiles and, also, 4 experimental literature profiles, and the results were good. The regression equation could be used to estimate the drag coefficient for the M2 profiles in channels with squared stem arrangements, within the range of vegetation densities, flow Reynolds numbers and stem Reynolds numbers of the present study. However, in the case of the three profiles observed by the authors for staggered arrangement, the regression equation gives significantly underestimated flow depths. Full article
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18 pages, 6210 KiB  
Article
Near-Nature Ecological Technique for Pier Scour Countermeasure in a Submerged Overfall
by Wei-Lin Lee, Chih-Wei Lu and Chin-Kun Huang
Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(13), 6367; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/app12136367 - 22 Jun 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1043
Abstract
This paper proposes a near-nature ecological technique, which can consist of a wide range of materials, to protect against pier scouring. The proposed technique can involve the use of many long strips that behave like water weeds. This paper studied a protection method [...] Read more.
This paper proposes a near-nature ecological technique, which can consist of a wide range of materials, to protect against pier scouring. The proposed technique can involve the use of many long strips that behave like water weeds. This paper studied a protection method against pier scour by using long strips in a submerged overfall, particularly for a pier located at the maximum depth area of overfall scour. The length and size of the strips were chosen as factors to study their protective effect. Our results showed that this approach slowed the flow velocity between the installed strips and bed. The sediment in flow might accordingly move slowly or even settle down. Thus, the pier could be kept stable and safe by the installation of those strips. Experimental results show that the protective effect is more efficient when the strip length is closer to the pier and has a small diameter. Moreover, the maximum protective effect reached 45.5% scour reduction. Varied lengths provided different protective effects against overfall scour. These findings show that this near-nature ecological technique could be a good and economical solution for pier protection in submerged overfalls. Full article
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