Laminar Surface Water Flow over Vegetated Ground

Abstract

This study examines low Reynolds number flow over vegetated sloping ground. Instead of using the traditional empirical formula related to resistance or frictional roughness, a new approach is presented by considering the flow inside the vegetation layer as porous media flow governed by Biot’s poroelastic theory as well as inside the soil layer. There is a discrepancy in the velocity distributions of flow over vegetative mantle area and bare area, respectively. Due to the change of the vegetation density, the effects of vegetation porosity and vegetation blockage on surface water flow are discussed.