Manuscript.pdf (1021.51 kB)
Flow–seaweed interactions: a laboratory study using blade models
journal contribution
posted on 2017-11-20, 09:53 authored by Davide Vettori, Vladimir NikoraFlow-vegetation interactions is an interdisciplinary research area with applications in the management of coastal waters, lakes, and watercourses. Due to an emerging interest in the cultivation of seaweeds, this study seeks to develop a sound understanding of the physical interactions between flow and seaweeds. This is achieved via experiments in a laboratory flume using plastic-made models of blades of the seaweed species Saccharina latissima. In the experiments, strain gages, a digital camera, and Acoustic Doppler Velocimeters were used for measuring drag forces, blade movements (reconfiguration), and flow velocities. The study involved experiments with single blades and with pairs of tandem blades at different spacing between the blades. The revealed mechanisms controlling the dynamics of seaweed blade models varied depending on the ratio of blade length to eddy length scale. The drag coefficient of seaweed blade models appeared to be dependent on the Reynolds number, the Cauchy number, and the ratio of blade length to integral turbulence length scale. Turbulence had a primary role in controlling blade model dynamics and its drag coefficient. Seaweed blade models affected the flow in their wakes by increasing the turbulence intensity and reducing the mean longitudinal velocity. These effects on the flow are the reason for which, in a pair of tandem blades, the drag force experienced by the downstream blade is lower than that experienced by the upstream blade.
Funding
The work described in this publication was undertaken during the PhD study of Davide Vettori at the University of Aberdeen funded by a scholarship from the Northern Research Partnership, Scotland.
History
School
- Social Sciences
Department
- Geography and Environment
Published in
Environmental Fluid MechanicsCitation
VETTORI, D. and NIKORA, V., 2017. Flow–seaweed interactions: a laboratory study using blade models. Environmental Fluid Mechanics, 18(3), pp. 611–636.Publisher
© SpringerVersion
- AM (Accepted Manuscript)
Publisher statement
This work is made available according to the conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) licence. Full details of this licence are available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/Acceptance date
2017-10-24Publication date
2017Notes
This is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of an article published in Environmental Fluid Mechanics. The final authenticated version is available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10652-017-9556-6.ISSN
1567-7419eISSN
1573-1510Publisher version
Language
- en