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Flow Resistance and Energy Dissipation in Supercritical Air‐Water Flows Down Vegetated Chutes
Author(s) -
Scheres B.,
Schüttrumpf H.,
Felder S.
Publication year - 2020
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 - 10.1029/2019wr026686
Subject(s) - environmental science , aeration , supercritical flow , flow velocity , flow (mathematics) , weir , dissipation , flow conditions , hydrology (agriculture) , geotechnical engineering , mechanics , geology , engineering , physics , cartography , thermodynamics , geography , waste management
Abstract Vegetation covers on dikes and embankment dams have proven as sustainable and cost‐effective surface protection against external erosion caused by hydraulic, mechanical, or climatic impacts. Determination of the hydraulic loads that act upon these covers requires the knowledge of the flow resistance. While the high‐velocity flows on vegetated slopes are often aerated, the flow aeration has rarely been considered, and no direct measurements of the air‐water flow properties have been conducted to date. The air‐water flow properties are needed for a direct estimation of important design parameters such as friction factors and residual head at the downstream end. Herein, unique air‐water flow measurements were conducted in high‐velocity air‐water flows down a vegetated chute with a 1:3 slope. Several vegetation covers were tested for a range of flow rates. The experiments revealed strong flow aeration within three‐dimensional, fragmented flows associated with complex interactions of vegetation and high‐velocity flows. The air‐water flow properties were measured with phase‐detection intrusive probes providing novel insights into aerated flows on vegetated chutes including distributions of void fraction, bubble count rate, and interfacial velocity as well as direct estimates of energy dissipation and flow resistance. The results highlighted strong flow aeration and energy dissipation for all vegetated configurations. The median equivalent Darcy‐Weisbach friction factors for all vegetations were within 0.19 to 0.45, comparable to aerated flows on stepped spillways. The present results highlighted the significant flow resistance of vegetated covers and the need to consider air‐water flow properties in the design of vegetated chutes.