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Abstract:In the present study, the flow structure of discontinuous double-layered vegetation patches was investigated using a 3D Reynolds stress turbulence model (RSM). The channel domain was built using GAMBIT (Geometry and Mesh Building Intelligent Toolkit). For the simulation and postprocessing, FLUENT (ANSYS) was used to analyze the distribution of the mean velocity, Reynolds stresses, and other flow properties against two different flow conditions. The results captured by the turbulence model at specific locations and the cross section are presented in the form of various velocity profiles and contour plots. In the gap portion, the velocity was visibly lower than that in the vegetation areas, while the influence of patch distribution was not visible in the overlying flow layer. The velocity profiles at critical locations were categorized by numerous modulation points and velocity projections close to the bed, principally for positions straight after the vegetation structures. A distinction in the velocity at the topmost of the smaller vegetation structure was prominent. Reynolds stresses, turbulent kinetic energy, and turbulence intensity exhibited large fluctuations inside the vegetation regions and just behind the vegetation structures compared with in the gap regions.

Debris produced by coastal forest destruction due to the tsunami after the Great East Japan Earthquake caused secondary damage to buildings by collision. To limit such destruction, the trapping action of a finite-length forest was examined in a flume considering the effects of ‘forest density’, ‘debris length to forest width ratio’, and ‘forest width-length ratio (aspect ratio)’ because the trapping height greatly affects the rate of damage to the forest itself. Higher forest density and a higher aspect ratio decrease the velocity in front of the forest. Debris having a specific gravity up to 0.80 floated after collision but oscillated vertically as forest density was increased. With debris of a higher specific gravity (0.90–1.05), increased forest density resulted in debris attachment closer to the ground, which reached a plateau beyond a forest density of 0.48 cylinders/cm2. In sparse forest, when debris was longer than the forest width; most debris fell at the foot of trees, while it was caught in the upper half of water depth in dense forest. The flow structure in front of and around a forest greatly affected the debris trapping capacity. It was deducted that the inland forest with a density of 0.48 cylinders/cm2 and an aspect ratio of 1.7 trapped most of the debris of all lengths at the foot of trees.

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