Premium
Impact of Stem Size on Turbulence and Sediment Resuspension Under Unidirectional Flow
Author(s) -
Liu Chao,
Shan Yuqi,
Nepf Heidi
Publication year - 2021
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 - 10.1029/2020wr028620
Subject(s) - turbulence , turbulence kinetic energy , sediment , environmental science , vegetation (pathology) , hydrology (agriculture) , k epsilon turbulence model , flow (mathematics) , sediment transport , volume (thermodynamics) , canopy , atmospheric sciences , soil science , mechanics , geology , geotechnical engineering , geomorphology , ecology , physics , thermodynamics , biology , medicine , pathology
Abstract Laboratory experiments examined the impact of model vegetation on turbulence and resuspension. The turbulent kinetic energy increased with increasing velocity and increasing solid volume fraction, but did not depend on stem diameter. The vegetation‐generated turbulence dominated the total turbulence inside canopies. For the same sediment size, the critical turbulent kinetic energy at which resuspension was initiated was the same for both vegetated and bare beds, which resulted in a critical velocity that decreased with increasing solid volume fraction. Both the critical turbulence and critical velocity for resuspension had no dependence on stem diameter. However, for denser canopies and/or a canopy of smaller stem size, a greater energy slope is required to initiate resuspension. This study provides a way to predict the onset of resuspension in regions with vegetation, an important threshold for sediment transport and landscape evolution.