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The influence of boulders in high gradient gravel‐bed rivers can be significant. Yet few studies have isolated their role in regulating bedload. It is hypothesized that boulder relative submergence and the corresponding eddies developing around boulders affect the frequency of bedload pulsations and the location of sediment deposits. Results show the occurrence of two distinct timescales in bedload exiting a boulder array, which were identified via time series analysis. These are the small‐scale periodicity, PS, and the large‐scale periodicity, PL. PS was identified in the range of 4–6 min and is believed to result from congested bedload movement due to reduced conveyance area within the array. PL was identified in the range of 8–46 min. It is suggested that PL corresponds to large bedload releases around boulders, which the authors consider to be caused by feedbacks between boulder eddies and bedload deposits. It is also found that boulder submergence and Froude number, Fr, influence the location of predominant deposition. At High Relative Submergence, deposition occurs in the boulder wake regions. At Low Relative Submergence, deposition instead occurs upstream of boulders in locations that depend on Fr. For Fr < 1, material deposits in the stoss of boulders due to the necklace structure of the horseshoe vortex. However, for Fr > 1, material deposits at the flanks of boulders due to the influence of local wave crests around boulders. The trapping efficiency of boulders reduces the dimensionless mean bedload transport rate by three orders of magnitude compared to conditions without boulders.

The authors would like to thank the many stakeholders with whom we have engaged to elicit feedback on the opportunities and challenges associated with developing and deploying standard modular hydropower technologies. Ongoing engagement with these technology innovators, commercial service/equipment providers, project developers, and environmental stewards has yielded insight into the myriad perspectives and experiences that shape the current hydropower landscape and inform standard modular hydropower research.

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Arrays of large immobile boulders, which are often encountered in steep mountain streams, affect the timing and magnitude of sediment transport events through their interactions with the approach flow. Despite their importance in the quantification of the bedload rate, the collective influence of a boulder array on the approach timeaveraged and turbulent flow field has to date been overlooked. The overarching objective is, thus, to assess the collective effects of a boulder array on the time-averaged and turbulent flow fields surrounding an individual boulder within the array, placing particular emphasis on highlighting the bed shear stress spatial variability. The objective of this study is pursued by resolving and comparing the timeaveraged and turbulent flow fields developing around a boulder, with and without an array of isolated boulders being present. The results show that the effects of an individual boulder on the time-averaged streamwise velocity and turbulence intensity were limited to the boulder's immediate vicinity in the streamwise (x/dc < 2-3) and vertical (z/dc < 1) directions. Outside of the boulder's immediate vicinity, the time-averaged streamwise velocity was found to be globally decelerated. This global deceleration was attributed to the form drag generated collectively by the boulder array. More importantly, the boulder array reduced the applied shear stress exerted on the individual boulders found within the array, by absorbing a portion of the total applied shear. Furthermore, the array was found to have a "homogenizing" effect on the near-bed turbulence thus significantly reducing the turbulence intensity in the near-bed region. The findings of this study suggest that the collective boulder array bears a portion of the total applied bed shear stress as form drag, hence reducing the available bed shear stress for transporting incoming mobile sediment. Thus, the effects of the boulder array should not be ignored in sediment transport predictions. These effects are encapsulated in this study by Equation (6). Citation: Tsakiris AG, Papanicolaou AN , Hajimirzaie SM, et al. (2014) Influence of collective boulder array on the surrounding time-averaged and turbulent flow fields. Journal of Mountain Science 11(6).