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Predicting velocity and turbulent kinetic energy inside an emergent Phragmites australis canopy with real morphology

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Abstract

Natural plants have different morphologies, which may impact the velocity and turbulence structures inside the canopy interior. Laboratory experiments investigated streamwise velocity and turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) profiles inside a Phragmites australis canopy with natural morphology. Inside the canopies, velocity and TKE adjusted both in the streamwise and vertical directions. An exponential-based velocity model for a canopy with vertically uniform frontal areas (e.g., a cylinder array) was modified to predict the longitudinal profile of depth-averaged velocity inside a canopy with vertically varying frontal areas (e.g., a P. australis canopy). Considering the influence of plant morphology, the vertical profiles of velocity and TKE at each streamwise position were predicted using the predicted depth-averaged velocity and the frontal area of the plants. The predicted velocity and TKE had good agreement with the measurements, suggesting that the present study provides a valid method to predict the velocity and TKE profiles inside canopies with natural morphology. Plants with a greater vertical variation in the frontal area have a more significant influence on predictions, and this influence should be included to avoid overestimating velocity and TKE.

Key points

  1. [1]

    Within a P. australis canopy, a velocity model for cylinder arrays was modified to predict the longitudinal profile of depth-averaged velocity.

  2. [2]

    Based on predicted depth-averaged velocities, the vertical profiles of velocity and TKE were predicted at different positions within canopies with real morphology.

  3. [3]

    With the same equivalent diameter and flow depth, a greater variation in plant morphology produced a more significant overestimated velocity and TKE.

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Acknowledgements

We sincerely appreciate the editor’s and two reviewers’ comments and very constructive suggestions, which improved the paper quality.

Funding

This study received financial support from the National Key Research and Development Program of China (No. 2022YFE0136700), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 52022063 and 52179074), the Sichuan Science and Technology Program (Nos. 2021YFH0028 and 2022NSFSC0969), and the Open Fund Program (No. 2021SKSH05) at the Key Laboratory of Poyang Lake Water Resources and Environment of Jiangxi Province, Jiangxi Academy of Water Science and Engineering.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Disaster Management and Reconstruction, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610065, People’s Republic of China

    Yuqi Shan

  2. Chongqing Southwest Research Institute for Water Transport Engineering, Chongqing Jiaotong University, Chongqing, 400060, People’s Republic of China

    Chunhao Yan

  3. Jiangxi Provincial Technology Innovation Center for Ecological Water Engineering in Poyang Lake Basin, Jiangxi Academy of Water Science and Engineering, Nanchang, 330029, Jiangxi, People’s Republic of China

    Jutao Liu

  4. State Key Laboratory of Hydraulics and Mountain River Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610065, People’s Republic of China

    Chao Liu

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  1. Yuqi Shan
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  2. Chunhao Yan
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Contributions

YS and CL proposed the concept, theory and the predictive method. CY, YS and CL designed the experiment. CY performed the experiment and data analysis. YS, CY and JL prepared the original manuscript. CL reviewed and edited the manuscript. The project was supervised by YS and CL.

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Correspondence to Chao Liu.

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Shan, Y., Yan, C., Liu, J. et al. Predicting velocity and turbulent kinetic energy inside an emergent Phragmites australis canopy with real morphology. Environ Fluid Mech 23, 943–963 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10652-023-09942-0

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