This paper addresses the problem of the renormalization group k turbulence modeling of a vegetated multi-stage compound channel. Results from Micro acoustic Doppler velocimeter(ADV) tests are used with time and spatial averaging(doubleaveraging method) in the analysis of the flow field and the characterization. Comparisons of the mean velocity, the Reynolds stress, and the turbulent energy distribution show the validity of the computational method. The mean velocity profile sees an obvious deceleration in the terraces because of vegetation. Secondary flow exists mainly at the junction of the main channel and the vegetation region on the first terrace. The bed shear stress in the main channel is much greater than that in the terraces. The difference of the bed shear stress between two terraces is insignificant, and the presence of vegetation can effectively reduce the bed shear stress.
The effect of vegetation on the flow structure and the dispersion in a 180 o curved open channel is studied. The Micro ADV is used to measure the flow velocities both in the vegetation cases and the non-vegetation case. It is shown that the velocities in the vegetation area are much smaller than those in the non-vegetation area and a large velocity gradient is generated between the vegetation area and the non-vegetation area. The transverse and longitudinal dispersion coefficients are analyzed based on the experimental data by using the modified N- zone models. It is shown that the effect of the vegetation on the transverse dispersion coefficient is small, involving only changes of a small magnitude, however, since the primary velocities become much more inhomogeneous with the presence of the vegetation, the longitudinal dispersion coefficients are much larger than those in the non-vegetation case.
A numerical analysis model based on two-dimensional shallow water differential equations is presented for straight open-channel flow with partial vegetation across the channel. Both the drag force acting on vegetation and the momentum exchange between the vegetation and non-vegetation zones are considered. The depth-averaged streamwise velocity is solved by the singular perturbation method, while the Reynolds stress is calculated based on the results of the streamwise velocity. Comparisons with the experimental data indicate that the accuracy of prediction is significantly improved by introducing a term for the secondary current in the model. A sensitivity analysis shows that a sound choice of the secondary current intensity coefficient is important for an accurate prediction of the depth-averaged streamwise velocity near the vegetation and non-vegetation interfaces, and the drag force coefficient is crucial for predictions in the vegetation zone.
At small dimensionless timescales T(= tD/H^2), where t is the time, H is the depth of the channel and D is the molecular diffusion coefficient, the mean transverse concentration along the longitudinal direction is not in a Gaussian distribution and the transverse concentration distribution is nonuniform. However, previous studies found different dimensionless timescales in the early stage, which is not verified experimentally due to the demanding experimental requirements. In this letter, a stochastic method is employed to simulate the early stage of the longitudinal transport when the Peclet number is large. It is shown that the timescale for the transverse distribution to approach uniformity is T= 0.5, which is also the timescale for the dimensionless temporal longitudinal dispersion coefficient to reach its asymptotic value, the timescale for the longitudinal distribution to approach a Gaussian distribution is T= 1.0, which is also the timescale for the dimensionless history mean longitudinal dispersion coefficient to reach its asymptotic value.
