Effect of vegetation on Mixing and Dispersion Processes at the apex section of a meander bend

Abstract

Aquatic vegetation exerts a strong influence on the fluvial ecosystem. Understanding flow characteristics and turbulent structure in the presence of vegetation is especially important with respect to environmental processes as sediment transport and mixing of transported quantities. In the present paper attention is focused on the kinematic and mixing processes in the presence of flexible submerged vegetation on the bed of a curved channel. In particular, the effect of vegetation on the flux of mass distribution and on the transport process at the apex section of a meandering bend is investigated by comparing the distributions of the dispersion coefficient estimated in vegetated areas and in no-vegetated ones.