Effect of the submerged vegetation distribution on flow characteristics and lateral dispersion: experimental analysis at the apex section of a meandering laboratory flume

Abstract

Understanding of how the vegetation distribution influences flow patterns and turbulence structure is extremely important to analyse environmental processes as the sediment transport and the mixing of transported quantities. In the present paper attention is focused on the effect of flexible vegetation on flow characteristics and dispersion processes at the apex section of a large-amplitude meandering bend. The analysis is conducted with the aid of data collected in a laboratory meandering flume both in the absence of vegetation on the bed and in the presence of real and flexible vegetation on the bed. Results show that the presence of vegetation affects both the lateral dispersion coefficient and the turbulent diffusion in vertical and lateral directions