Experimental Study on Water Flow Characteristics in Open Channels with Floating Rigid Vegetation Groups

Abstract

To explore the water flow characteristics under the action of floating rigid vegetation groups, several laboratory tests are conducted in a flume of North Minzu University, in which floating rigid vegetation is replaced by glass rods. In the tests, two groups of vegetation are placed at different positions of the flume and the vegetation length into the water is changed. Experimental results show that both the upstream water level of the vegetation group and water surface slope along the way grow with the increasement of the length of the vegetation root. When vegetation root becomes longer, the flow velocity under the vegetation layer increases, while the flow velocity within the upper vegetation layer decreases. In addition, it can be also be found from the measured results that the turbulent kinetic energy of the flow increases as the length of the floating vegetation decreases in the water.