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Experimental Investigation on Flow Configuration in Flexible and Rigid Vegetated Streams

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Abstract

Riparian vegetation could be an appropriate solution for the flood control and sustainable river management technique as it is useful for the energy dissipation of the stream flows. The present experimental investigation is conducted to understand the flow configuration and energy dissipation of stream flows considering the flexible and rigid vegetation. The laboratory-based physical models are tested in a rectangular flume to observe the flow field in the upstream and downstream of both the vegetations. In this study, rigid vegetation is considered of wooden dowels of equal height and almost uniform diameter whereas for flexible vegetation paddy plants were used. Acoustic Doppler Velocimeter is utilized to observe the velocity profiles at different sections and then it is compared with and without the vegetation. It is noticed that around 24% reduction in stream velocity occurs due to introduction of rigid vegetation whereas 90% reduction happens due to flexible vegetation in the channel. Additionally, energy dissipation at all the sections of both vegetation types was found to give a more comprehensive understanding of the flow field. Overall, the present study provides an insight into the fact that with the help of flexible and rigid vegetation one can restore the ecological balance in the river. The vegetation with high density, height and flexibility will be useful for the dissipation of energy in effective manner. This study also suggests that flexible vegetation will be an effective tool in river management by decreasing scouring in the channel, thereby reducing erosion and sediment discontinuity.

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Data Availability

The data presented in this study are available on reasonable request from the corresponding author.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to gratefully acknowledge the Ministry of Education (MoE) and the Civil Engineering department, National Institute of Technology, Warangal for providing the required infrastructure for carrying out the experiment.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil Engineering, Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology Allahabad, Paryagraj, 211004, India

    Binit Kumar & Manish Pandey

  2. Department of Civil Engineering, National Institute of Technology Warangal, Warangal, 506004, India

    Swagat Patra

  3. Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Kharagpur, 721301, India

    Manish Pandey

Authors
  1. Binit Kumar
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  2. Swagat Patra
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  3. Manish Pandey
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Contributions

The first author has analysed the experimental data and prepared the manuscript, the second author has conducted the experimental tests and plotted the graphs and third author has checked the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Binit Kumar.

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Kumar, B., Patra, S. & Pandey, M. Experimental Investigation on Flow Configuration in Flexible and Rigid Vegetated Streams. Water Resour Manage 37, 6005–6019 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-023-03640-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-023-03640-8

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