Bulk Flow Resistance in Vegetated Channels: Analysis of Momentum Balance Approaches Based on Data Obtained in Aging Live Vegetation
Publication: Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 137, Issue 12
Abstract
Previous work has sought to investigate flow resistance caused by vegetation in open channels. However, many existing flow resistance models are based on data from artificial plant mimics in laboratory channels and are untested with live, aging vegetation and may neglect some of the key effects. This paper presents results from a study using two types of live vegetation grown within a laboratory channel. A series of flow resistance tests were conducted over a time period sufficient to observe changes caused by growth. The effects of the vegetation on bulk flow resistance are presented and discussed. The results are compared with predictions made by existing practical momentum balance based models for flow through emergent vegetation, and new empirical relationships are presented. The work shows that momentum balance methods can provide an accurate prediction of flow depth in live vegetation provided that the relationship between bulk drag coefficient and flow is known. This relationship has been shown to vary with changes in plant properties during growth.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
This work has been supported by an EPSRC DTA award.
References
Albertson, M. L., Barton, J. R., and Simons, D. B. (1960). Fluid mechanics for engineers, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.
Armanini, A., Righetti, M., and Grisenti, P. (2005). “Direct measurement of vegetation resistance in prototype scale.” J. Hydraul. Res., 43(5), 481–487.
Chow, V. (1959). Open-channel hydraulics, McGraw-Hill, New York.
Einstein, H. A., and Banks, H. B. (1950). “Fluid resistance of composite roughness.” Trans., Am. Geophys. Union, 31(4), 603–610.
Fathi-Maghadam, M., and Kouwen, N. (1997). “Nonrigid, nonsubmerged, vegetative roughness on floodplains.” J. Hydraul. Eng., 123(1), 51–57.
Green, J. C. (2005). “Modelling flow resistance in vegetated streams: Review and development of new theory.” Hydrol. Processes, 19(6), 1245–1259.
Hoffman, M. R. (2004). “Application of a simple space-time averaged porous media model to flow in densely vegetated channels.” J. Porous Media, 7(3), 183–191.
James, C. S., Birkhead, A. L., Jordanova, A. A., and O’Sullivan, J. J. (2004). “Flow resistance of emergent vegetation.” J. Hydraul. Res., 42(4), 390–398.
Jarvela, J. (2002). “Flow resistance of flexible and stiff vegetation: A flume study with natural plants.” J. Hydrol. (Amsterdam), 269(1–2), 44–54.
Jordanova, A. A., James, C. S., and Birkhead, A. L. (2006). “Practical estimation of flow resistance through emergent vegetation.” Water Manage. Tech. Rep., 159(3), 173–181.
Kouwen, N. (1988). “Field estimation of the biomechanical properties of grass.” J. Hydraul. Res., 26(5), 559–568.
Kouwen, N., and Unny, T. E. (1973). “Flexible roughness in open channels.” J. Hydraul. Div., 99(HY5), 713–728.
Kouwen, N., and Fathi-Moghadam, M. (2000). “Friction factors for coniferous trees along rivers.” J. Hydraul. Eng., 126(10), 732–740.
Lee, J. K., Roig, L. C., Jenter, H. L., and Visser, H. M. (2004). “Drag coefficients for modeling flow through emergent vegetation in the Florida Everglades.” Ecol. Eng., 22(4–5), 237–248.
Lightbody, A. F., and Nepf, H. M. (2006). “Prediction of near-field shear dispersion in an emergent canopy with heterogeneous morphology.” Environ. Fluid Mech., 6(5), 477–488.
Linder, K. (1982). “Der stromungswiderstand von Pflanzenbestanden.” Mitteil des Leichtweiβ-Insistutes fur Wasserbau der TU Braunschweig, Heft 75 (in German).
Malki (2009). “The influence of Saltmarsh vegetation canopies on hydrodynamics in the intertidal zone.” Ph.D. thesis, Univ.of Cardiff, Cardiff, UK.
Nepf, H. M. (1999). “Drag, turbulence and diffusion in flow through emergent vegetation.” Water Resour. Res., 35(2), 479–489.
Nikora, V. (2010). “Hydrodynamics of aquatic ecosystems: An interface between ecology, biomechanics and environmental fluid mechanics.” River Res. Appl., 26(4), 367–384.
Petryk, S. (1969). “Drag on cylinders in open channel flow.” Ph.D. thesis, Colorado State Univ., Fort Collins, CO.
Petryk, S., and Bosmajian, G. (1975). “Analysis of flow though vegetation.” J. Hydraul. Div., 101(7), 871–884.
Rhee, D. S., Woo, H., Kwon, B. A., and Ahn, H. K. (2008). “Hydraulic resistance of some selected vegetation in open channel flows.” River Res. Appl., 24(5), 673–687.
Righetti, M. (2008). “Flow analysis in a channel with flexible vegetation using double averaging method.” Acta Geophysica, 56(3), 801–823.
Shucksmith, J. D. (2008). “Impact of vegetation in open channels on flow resistance and solute mixing.” Ph.D. thesis, Univ. of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK.
Shucksmith, J. D., Boxall, J. B., and Guymer, I. (2010). “Effects of emergent and submerged natural vegetation on longitudinal mixing in open channel flow.” Water Resour. Res., 46, W04504.
Stone, B. M., and Shen, H. T. (2002). “Hydraulic resistance of flow in channels with cylindrical roughness.” J. Hydraul. Eng., 128(5), 500–506.
Tanino, Y., and Nepf, H. M. (2008). “Laboratory investigation of mean drag in a random array of rigid, emergent cylinders.” J. Hydraul. Eng., 134(1), 34–41.
Taylor, R. P., Coleman, H. W., and Hodge, B. K. (1985). “Prediction of turbulent rough-wall skin friction usinga discrete element approach.” J. Fluids Eng., 107(2), 251–257.
Temple, D. M. (1986). “Velocity distribution coefficients for grass-lined channels.” J. Hydraul. Eng., 112(3), 193–205.
Tsihrintzis, V. A. (2001). “Discussion of ‘Variation of roughness coefficients for unsubmerged and submerged vegetation’ by Wu, F.-C., Shen, H. W., Chou, Y.-J.” J. Hydraul. Eng., 127(3), 241–244.
Tsujimoto, T., Kitamura, T., and Fujii, Y. (1995). “Hydraulic resistance of flow in vegetated-bed channels.” Vol. 4, KHL Progressive Rep., Hydraulic Lab., Kanazawa Univ., 43–55.
White, F. M. (1991). Viscous fluid flow, 2nd Ed., McGraw-Hill, New York.
Wilson, C. A. M. E., and Horritt, M. S. (2002). “Measuring the flow resistance of submerged grass.” Hydrol. Processes, 16(13), 2589–2598.
Wilson, C. A. M. E., Stoesser, T., and Bates, P. D. (2005). “Modelling of open channel flow through vegetation.” Computational fluid dynamics: Applications in environmental hydraulics, Wiley, Chichester, UK, 395.
Wu, F. C., Shen, H. W., and Chou, Y. (1999). “Variation of roughness coefficients for unsubmerged and submerged vegetation.” J. Hydraul. Eng., 125(9), 934–942.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 137 • Issue 12 • December 2011
Pages: 1624 - 1635
Copyright
© 2011 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Dec 18, 2009
Accepted: May 16, 2011
Published online: May 18, 2011
Published in print: Dec 1, 2011
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.