Turbulent Kinetic Energy and Budget of Heterogeneous Open Channel with Gravel and Vegetated Beds

Abstract

Turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) and budget are indispensable hydraulic parameters to determine turbulent scales and processes resulting from various and different natural hydraulic features in open channels. This paper focuses on experimental investigation of turbulent kinetic energy and budget in a heterogeneous open channel flow with gravel and vegetated beds. Results indicate the turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) value over gravel region of the heterogeneous bed remains approximately constant with flow depth. The highest turbulent kinetic energy was calculated for flexible vegetation arrangement compared to the rigid vegetation. The estimation of the turbulent kinetic energy budget shows the higher values of turbulence production recorded over the flexible vegetated bed, consequently, the dissipation rate exhibits faster decay of turbulence kinetic energy over the vegetated bed in comparison to the gravel bed.