Influence of inclination and permeability of solitary woody riparian plants on local hydraulic and sedimentary processes

The role of solitary woody riparian plants with respect to local erosion and deposition of sediments is investigated. A focus is laid on the characteristics ‘inclination’ and ‘permeability’ of the plant's projected frontal area. Therefore, two experimental studies using cylindrical obstacles were carried out in a laboratory flume, one aiming at inclination, the other at permeability. The first series revealed that the total amount of mobilized sediment around the cylinder on average decreased by 8–10% per 5° increasing inclination in streamwise direction. Locations of maximum scour depth simultaneously shifted downstream. A horseshoe vortex system, causing the frontal and lateral scouring, ceased to exist below inclinations of 25–30°. The second series revealed that with increasing permeability, frontal scour incision is delayed, and the eroded sediment volume is significantly reduced. With permeable obstacles, two system states were observed: first, frontal scouring with leeside deposition at higher flow velocities and, second, moderate leeside scouring at lower flow velocities. For up‐scaling and comparison, a field study focussing on fluvial obstacle marks at poplars and willows in secondary channels of the River Loire was additionally conducted. A modified analytical model enabled us to quantify the amount of deposited sediments leeside of the plants. Leeside sediment ridges are significantly stabilized and have a higher preservation potential when covered by pioneer vegetation. Under such conditions, they may indeed induce the development of stable islands. Eventually, ‘sediment ridge width’ turned out to be a suitable indicator for leeside deposited sediment volume, irrespective of spatial scale. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Experimental investigation on scour topography around high-rise structure foundations

The current study aims to investigate the characteristics of scour topography around High-Rise Structure Foundations(HRSFs)via physical modeling tests.Clear-water scour tests with a uniform non-cohesive bed are modeled under the action of unidirectional steady flows.Time variations of the erosion and deposition topography are measured.The results show that deposition downstream of the first dune behind the HRSF is not located on the centerline of the wake.The deposition pattern indicates that a long steady wake region exists behind the permeable foundation.The scour depth around an HRSF is much less than that around a monopile because of the structural permeability,which gives rise to the bleed flow and a weakened downflow and horseshoe vortex.Additionally,the asymmetry of the HRSF affects the scour rate but not the final equilibrium scour depth.The average scour slope decreases along the direction of the flow.On the contrary,the scour radial distance increases along the direction of the flow,with the average value changing from 1.36De to 2.35De(where De is the equivalent diameter of the foundation).Furthermore,the scour hole around the HRSF is serrated rather than smooth owing to the presence of multiple piles.Empirical formulae are suggested for estimating the evolution of scour depth and volume.These laboratory experiments provide reference information for relevant numerical modeling studies and can be applied to guide engineering designs in an ocean area.     

Effects of hydraulic structures on river morphological processes

Study of hydraulic structures such as groins and bandal-like structures can provide valuable information on their influences on morphological processes in natural rivers.These structures usually used for bank protection and formation of deep navigation channel can locally create complex flow patterns,reduce flow velocities and also increase the flood levels.Most of the previous studies are focused on structures like groins under non-submerged flow condition.However,the recent demand of nature friendly low cost and sustainable methods for river bank protection and channel formation leads to the necessity of study different type of structures like bandal-like structures.In this context, this study investigates the flow characteristics and sediment transport process influenced by bandal-like structures through laboratory experiments.The experiments were carried out under live-bed scour condition with sediment supplied from the inlet for two submergence(non-submerged and submerged)conditions.The experimental measurements contribute to better understand the mechanism of deposition/erosion process around different type of hydraulic structures.The performance of bandal-like structures considering the erosion around the structures,the deposition near the bank and the formation of deep main channel show promising results compared with conventional structures such as groins(impermeable and permeable ones).     

Convergent development of experimental landforms with differing rainfall and substrate properties

Four runs of experimental landform development, with the same uplift rate, different rainfall intensity, and the same material of different permeability adjusted by the degree of compaction, showed complicated effects of rainfall and mound-forming material. In the run with more rainfall on less permeable material, low separated ridges developed in the uplifted area, because abundant overland flow promoted valley erosion and slope processes from early stages. In the run with less rainfall on less permeable material, valley incision proceeded mostly in major valleys where surface water converges. Canyons developed during early stages and later a high massive mountain emerged. The effect of rainfall difference, however, appeared completely opposite on more permeable material accompanied by lower shear strength. In the run with more rainfall on more permeable material, a massive mountain similar to that with less rainfall on less permeable material appeared, and low separated ridges appeared in the run with less rainfall on more permeable material as in the run with more rainfall on less permeable material. In the former case, similar amount of water available for Hortonian overland flow in early stages estimated from rainfall rate and permeability can explain the development of similar landforms. In the latter case, while abundant surface water with more rainfall on less permeable material made fluvial erosion active from early stages, the deficiency in surface water with less rainfall on more permeable material apparently attenuated fluvial erosion but possibly accentuated slope processes and slope failures by seepage water flow through more permeable material of low shear strength. The active erosion from early stages apparently resulted in the development of enduring similar low landforms later in the dynamic equilibrium stage. These experimental results indicate that similar landforms can emerge from different environmental and lithologic controls, and that process does not necessarily follow from form.     

Does the permeability of gravel river beds affect near‐bed hydrodynamics?

The permeability of river beds is an important control on hyporheic flow and the movement of fine sediment and solutes into and out of the bed. However, relatively little is known about the effect of bed permeability on overlying near‐bed flow dynamics, and thus on fluid advection at the sediment–water interface. This study provides the first quantification of this effect for water‐worked gravel beds. Laboratory experiments in a recirculating flume revealed that flows over permeable beds exhibit fundamental differences compared with flows over impermeable beds of the same topography. The turbulence over permeable beds is less intense, more organised and more efficient at momentum transfer because eddies are more coherent. Furthermore, turbulent kinetic energy is lower, meaning that less energy is extracted from the mean flow by this turbulence. Consequently, the double‐averaged velocity is higher and the bulk flow resistance is lower over permeable beds, and there is a difference in how momentum is conveyed from the overlying flow to the bed surface. The main implications of these results are three‐fold. First, local pressure gradients, and therefore rates of material transport, across the sediment–water interface are likely to differ between impermeable and permeable beds. Second, near‐bed and hyporheic flows are unlikely to be adequately predicted by numerical models that represent the bed as an impermeable boundary. Third, more sophisticated flow resistance models are required for coarse‐grained rivers that consider not only the bed surface but also the underlying permeable structure. Overall, our results suggest that the effects of bed permeability have critical implications for hyporheic exchange, fluvial sediment dynamics and benthic habitat availability. © 2017 The Authors. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.     

Influence of permeability on hydrothermal circulation in the sediment-buried oceanic crust

1 Introduction Hydrothermal circulation is the key process of hydrothermal activity. Modern seafloor hydrothermal circulation can be divided into three parts: convective cells in the oceanic curst, interface between seafloor and ocean and hydrothermal plume. Hydrothermal convection in the crust is the dominant part of the whole seafloor hydrothermal circulation. The distribu-tion and nature of hydrothermal system in the oceanic crust are controlled by crust thermal structures and permeability …     

Effects of submerged flexible vegetation and solid structure bars on channel bed scour

The effects of different submerged obstacle longitudinal bars with different arrangement densities on the flow profile and morphology of a scour hole were investigated under clear water conditions. Acoustic Doppler velocimetry(ADV) data were applied to plot the vertical distributions of three-dimensional velocities and turbulent contours.The experimental results indicate that arrangement density(also can represent porosity),structural material(flexible or solid),and the sidewall effect are the main factors impacting turbulent kinetic energy and the morphology of scour holes.For flexible vegetation,the maximum turbulent kinetic energy near the bed surface increased with the arrangement density.For the same structure,the depth and the magnitude of the lateral expansion of the scour hole also increased with the arrangement density.The flexible vegetation reduced the depth of the scour hole because of deflection and arrangement density.The larger volumes of scour found in the upstream and middle sections of solid structures compare well to those in flexible vegetation.The deflection of porous flexible vegetation transported the turbulent kinetic energy downstream,reduced the turbulent kinetic energy near the sediment bed,and increased the stability of the bars.Flexible vegetation bars are able to protect the bank and the bed of a river under normal conditions,making them a good alternative design in the management and restoration of rivers.     

A lattice Boltzmann study on the impact of the geometrical properties of porous media on the steady state relative permeabilities on two-phase immiscible flows

In the current paper, the effect of the geometrical characteristics of 2-D porous media on the relative permeability in immiscible two-phase flows is studied. The generation of the different artificial porous media is performed using a Boolean model based on a random distribution of overlapping circles/ellipses, the size and shape of which are chosen to satisfy the specific Minkowski functionals (i.e. volume fraction, solid line contour length, connectivity). The study aims to identify how each different Minkowski functional affects the relative permeability of each phase at various saturations of the non-wetting phase. A 2-D multi-relaxation time (MRT) lattice Boltzmann model (LBM) that can handle high density ratios is employed in the simulation. The relationship between the driving forces G and the relative permeabilities of the two phases for every artificial structure is quantified. It is found that for high non-wetting phase saturations (fully connected flow), a non-linear relationship exists between the non-wetting phase flow rate and the driving force, whilst this relationship becomes linear at higher magnitudes of the latter. The force magnitude required to approach the linear region is highly influenced by the pore size distribution and the connectivity of the solid phase. For lower non-wetting phase saturation values, its relative permeability in the linear regime decreases as the fraction of small pores in the structure increases and the non-wetting phase flow becomes disconnected. A strong influence of the solid phase connectivity is also observed.     

Artificial neural network forward modelling and inversion of electrokinetic logging data

An artificial neural network method is proposed as a computationally economic alternative to numerical simulation by the Biot theory for predicting borehole seismoelectric measurements given a set of formation properties. Borehole seismoelectric measurements are simulated using a finite element forward model, which solves the Biot equations together with an equation for the streaming potential. The results show that the neural network method successfully predicts the streaming potentials at each detector, even when the input pressures are contaminated with 10% Gaussian noise. A fast inversion methodology is subsequently developed in order to predict subsurface material properties such as porosity and permeability from streaming potential measurements. The predicted permeability and porosity results indicate that the method predictions are more accurate for the permeability predictions, with the inverted permeabilities being in excellent agreement with the actual permeabilities. This approach was finally verified by using data from a field experiment. The predicted permeability results seem to predict the basic trends in permeabilities from a packer test. As expected from synthetic results, the predicted porosity is less accurate. Investigations are also carried out to predict the zeta potential. The predicted zeta potentials are in agreement with values obtained through experimental self potential measurements.     

Particle image velocimetry evaluation of flow-altering countermeasures for local scour around a submerged circular cylinder

The effect of scour countermeasures on the mechanism of local scour around a cylinder requires clarification in order to develop design methodology for use in practice. Previous investigations on countermeasure performance, though useful, have not provided adequate measurements to support this understanding. In the present investigation, particle image velocimetry(PIV) measurements were acquired at several streamwise-vertical planes in the flow field surrounding a submerged circular cylinder wit...     

Numerical modeling of local scour of non-uniform graded sediment for two arrangements of pile groups

A three-dimensional(3D) non-hydrostatic numerical model is established to investigate local scour around four aligned circular piles in uniform and non-uniform sediment mixtures and to provide information for improving scour countermeasures design. In the current study, unsteady Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes(URANS) equations along with a Re-normalization Group(RNG) k-ε model were applied to simulate the flow field. A non-uniform sediment transport model was applied to estimate the bedload tran...     

EXPERIMENTS ON FLOW AROUND A CYLINDER IN A SCOURED CRANNEL BED

1 INTRODUCTION'LOcal scour around a pier is a result of the interatiOn amongst the pier, the aPproach flow and theerodible bed. The Presence of a pier results in a stagnation pressure build-up in front of the pier and athree-dimensional tUrbulent flow echaracterized by the downward flow ahead of the pier and the so-called horseshoe vortex along the base of the Pier forms itself The flow modifies the erothe bed inthe vicinity of the pier when local scour takes place (Graf and AJhnakar l…     

EXPERIMENTS ON FLOW AROUND A CYLINDER IN A SCOURED CHANNEL BED

The flow pattern around a cylinder, installed in a scoured channel bed, was experimentally investigated. Detailed measurements of the instantaneous 3D velocities were performed by using an Acoustic Doppler Velocity Profiler (ADVP), from which the profiles of the time-averaged velocities and turbulence stresses were obtained. It is shown that the influence of the cylinder and of the scour hole alters the approach flow; this is essentially confined to the vicinity of the cylinder and to the inside of the scour hole. The horseshoe vortex is measured as a flow reversal inside the scour hole, formed by the downward flow along the cylinder face and the reversed flow at the scour bed.     

The beneficial role of rubble mound coastal structures on seawater oxygenation

The beneficial role of rubble mound coastal structures on oxygenation under the effect of waves is discussed, based on analytical considerations and experimental data from laboratory experiments with permeable and impermeable structures. Significant oxygenation of the wave-protected area was observed as a result of horizontal transport through the permeable structure. A two-cell model describing the transport of dissolved oxygen (DO) near a rubble mound breakwater structure was developed and used for the determination of the oxygen transfer coefficients from the experimental data. Oxygen transfer through the air-water interface is considered a source term in the transport equation and the oxygen flux through the structure is taken into account. The mass transport equations for both sides of the structure are solved analytically in terms of time evolution of DO concentration. The behaviour of the solution is illustrated for three different characteristic cases of initial conditions. The oxygen transfer through the air-water interface in the wave-influenced area increases the DO content in the area; the resulting oxygen flux through the structure is discussed. The analytical results depend on the initial conditions, the oxygen transfer coefficient and the exchange flow rate through the structure. Experiments with impermeable structures show that air water oxygen transfer in the harbour area is negligible in the absence of waves. In addition the ratio of the horizontal DO flux to the vertical flux into the seaward side tends towards a constant value, independent of the initial conditions.     

Scour patterns around isolated vegetation elements

The complex multi-directional interactions between hydrological, biological and fluvial processes govern the formation and evolution of river landscapes. In this context, as key geomorphological agents, riparian trees are particularly important in trapping sediment and constructing distinct landforms, which subsequently evolve to larger ones. The primary objective of this paper is to experimentally investigate the scour/deposition patterns around different forms of individual vegetation elements. Flume experiments were conducted in which the scour patterns around different representative forms of individual in-stream obstructions (solid cylinder, hexagonal array of circular cylinders, several forms of emergent and submerged vegetation) were monitored by means of a high-resolution laser scanner. The three dimensional scour geometry around the simulated vegetation elements was quantified and discussed based on the introduced dimensionless morphometric characteristics. The findings reveal that the intact vegetation forms generated two elongated scour holes at the downstream with a pronounced ridge. For the impermeable form of the plant, the scour got localized, more deposition was detected within the monitoring zone, and the distance between the obstruction and deposition zone became shorter. It is also shown that with the effect of bending and the subsequent decrease of the projected area of the plant and the increase of bulk volume, the characteristic scour values decrease compared to the intact version, and the scour zone obtains a more elongated form and expands in the downstream direction.     

Numerical investigation of local scour at two adjacent cylinders

Local scour around cylinders in a side-by-side or tandem arrangement under clear-water conditions is investigated numerically. Large eddy simulations with a Smagorinsky subgrid model are combined with a ghost-cell immersed boundary method, and details of the bed scouring are realized with sophisticated sediment and morphodynamic models. The scour patterns and depths in the two-cylinder cases are shown to be significantly influenced by the cylinder spacing. The features of the scour evolution, depth, and flow fields for a range of cylinder spacings are discussed. The maximum scour depth in the side-by-side cylinder cases increases as the distance between the cylinders decreases, whereas in the tandem cases, it tends to initially increase with increasing distance between the cylinders, after which it gradually decreases beyond the peak point. The maximum scour depths and trends computed using the present model show good agreement with the measured data in the literature.     

Dynamic stress concentration near a fluid-filled permeable borehole induced by general modal vibrations of an internal cylindrical radiator

Stress distribution in the vicinity of a permeable cylindrical cavity surface (borehole wall) arising due to modal vibrations of an internal cylindrical radiator of infinite extent is studied. Biot phenomenological model is used to represent the behavior of sound in the fluid-saturated elastic porous medium and closed-form solution in the form of an infinite series is developed. A numerical example for the infinite cylindrical surface excited in vibrational modes of zeroth and first order while immersed in a water-filled cavity embedded within a water-saturated Ridgefield Sandstone environment is presented and several limiting cases are examined. Effects of axial and radial vibration frequencies, porosity, frame stiffness, and interface permeability condition on stress distribution at the borehole surface are presented and discussed.     

Numerical model of local scour considering the unsteady sediment inflow and sediment sorting: Application to scour upstream of slit weir

The current study proposes a novel framework for the numerical model for estimating the temporal scour considering unsteady sediment inflow and the sediment sorting process. The framework was applied to local scour upstream of a slit weir. The scour model is based on an ordinary nonlinear differential equation derived from sediment continuity and scour rate equations. A one-dimensional(1-D)Boussinesq-type model coupled with nonequilibrium sediment transport was incorporated in the scour model to...     

The influence of local fluid flow and the microstructure on elastic and anelastic rock properties

The frequency dependent mechanism of local fluid flow was found to be the decisive absorption and dispersion mechanism in fluid containing sandstones. In the ultrasonic frequency range local fluid flow and grain surface effects control the behaviour of highly porous and highly permeable rock if a pore fluid is present. Both mechanisms depend less on macroscopic rock parameters like porosity and permeability than essentially on microscopic parameters like crack size, crack density and grain contact properties. To demonstrate directly the important influence of the microstructure on the rock elastic and anelastic properties the microstructure of a sandstone was artificially changed by thermal cracking. The cracked rock exhibits a clearly changed behaviour at low uniaxial as well as at high hydrostatic pressure despite small changes of porosity and permeability. Fluid effects increase due to cracking. The experimental results are explained by means of a rock, model and local fluid flow. These results emphasize that it is the microstructure which controls the elastic and anelastic rock behaviour, even at high hydrostatic pressure.