Scaling of velocity profiles for depth-limited open channel flows over simulated rigid vegetation

• Main Authors: Cheng, Nian-Sheng, Nguyen, Hoai Thanh, Tan, Soon Keat, Shao, Songdong
• Other Authors: School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2013
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/96825; http://hdl.handle.net/10220/11632
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Using the plane mixing layer analogy, a length scale is proposed to normalize velocity profiles for vegetated open channel flows. The new scaling is an improvement over those based on the logarithmic, velocity-defect, and power laws in collapsing the velocity profiles, which include measurements conducted in this study and also those reported in the literature for a variety of flow and vegetation configurations. An eddy viscosity model is also developed to justify the scaling argument. This study is limited to rigid vegetation submerged in depth-limited flows, in which the flow depth is no greater than twice the vegetation height.