Numerical investigation on the effect of flexible vegetation in open-channel flow incorporating FSI

Abstract

ABSTRACT The understanding and studying of the vegetation effect on the natural water flows is an important objective in modern scientific research regarding river management and restoration, with high environmental impact. Vegetation in the open-channel flow significantly affects the velocity of flow. In the present study, influence of the flexible vegetation on the flow characteristics of open-channel flow was resolved numerically using computational fluid dynamics. For the numerical study of the open-channel flow with flexible vegetation, fluid–structure interaction (FSI) is used. The obtained results were then compared with the numerical results of rigid vegetation. The influence of different parameters such as depth of flow, flow velocity, slenderness ratio of vegetation and density of vegetation were studied. It was found that incorporation of FSI in the analysis is essential to accurately predict the flow characteristics. It was also found that the simulation using FSI is more critical in case of submerged vegetation in an open-channel flow for all flow velocities.