Flow and Turbulence Structure past a Cluster of Freshwater Mussels
Publication: Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 139, Issue 4
Abstract
Freshwater mussels are bivalve mollusks that inhabit the substrates of rivers. Their conservation is important to maintain a healthy river ecological system. The present study uses state-of-the-art experimental and numerical techniques to investigate flow and turbulence structure and to estimate the bed friction velocity distributions around a cluster of three semiburrowed mussels placed at a bottom of a flat-bed channel. The ability to describe and quantify these processes and mechanisms is a prerequisite to understanding how mussels are dislocated from the bed and to better comprehend biological aspects related to the life and role (e.g., nutrient transport) of these aquatic organisms. The large-eddy simulation (LES) study provides a detailed discussion of the flow physics and the role of large-scale coherent structures for a case in which the incoming flow is perpendicular to the shells of the mussels. For this limiting test case, strong necklace vortices develop around the upstream base of the mussels and massive separation occurs past the mussels. This provides an extremely complex turbulent flow field that is very challenging to predict using numerical models. As part of the study, data from particle image velocimetry (PIV) are compared with LES. The model can be used as a tool to investigate flow and transport processes at mussel scale for a variety of relevant flow conditions.
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Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Professor T. Nakato from the University of Iowa for his advice and support in conducting this research. We would also like to thank Professor J. M. Reinhardt from the University of Iowa for his help in generating a highly accurate description of the mussel surface using computerized axial tomography. We gratefully acknowledge the National Center for High Performance Computing (NCHC) in Taiwan and the Transportation Research and Analysis Computing Center (TRACC) at the Argonne National Laboratory for providing substantial amounts of computer time.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 139 • Issue 4 • April 2013
Pages: 347 - 358
Copyright
© 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Aug 30, 2011
Accepted: Oct 11, 2012
Published online: Oct 13, 2012
Published in print: Apr 1, 2013
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