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Capillary trapping of buoyant particles within regions of emergent vegetation
Author(s) -
Peruzzo Paolo,
Defina Andrea,
Nepf Heidi
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
water resources research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.863
H-Index - 217
eISSN - 1944-7973
pISSN - 0043-1397
DOI - 10.1029/2012wr011944
Subject(s) - vegetation (pathology) , trapping , surface tension , capillary action , particle (ecology) , environmental science , mechanics , tension (geology) , hydrology (agriculture) , materials science , soil science , geology , ecology , geotechnical engineering , physics , composite material , biology , thermodynamics , medicine , pathology , ultimate tensile strength
The seeds of many aquatic plants are buoyant and thus transported at the water surface, where they are subject to surface tension that may enhance their retention within emergent vegetation. Specifically, seeds may be trapped by surface tension (i.e., by the Cheerios effect) at the surface‐piercing interface of the vegetation. In this work we develop a physical model that predicts this mechanism of seed trapping, advancing the model proposed by Defina and Peruzzo (2010) that describes the propagation of floating particles through emergent vegetation. The emergent vegetation is simulated as an array of cylinders, randomly arranged, with the mean gap between cylinders far greater than the particle size, which prevents the trapping of particles between pairs of cylinders, referred to as net trapping. Laboratory experiments are used to guide and validate the model. The model also has good agreement with experimental data available in the literature for real seeds and more complex plant morphology.