Determining drag coefficients and their application in modelling of turbulent flow with submerged vegetation

Vegetation is a key aspect of water resources and ecology in natural rivers, floodplains and irrigation channels. The hydraulic resistance of the water flow is greatly changed when submerged vegetation is present. Three kinds of drag coefficients, i.e., the drag coefficient for an isolated cylinder, the bulk drag coefficient of an array of cylinders and the vertically distributed or local drag coefficient, have been commonly used as parameters to represent the vegetation drag force. In this paper, a comprehensive experimental study of submerged stems in an open channel flow is presented. Empirical formulae for the three drag coefficients were obtained based on our experimental results and on data from previous studies. A two-layer model was developed to solve the mean momentum equation, which was used to evaluate the vertical mean velocity profile with each of the drag coefficients. By comparing the velocity distribution model predictions and the measurement results, we found that the model with the drag coefficient for an isolated cylinder and the local drag coefficient was good fit. In addition, the model with the bulk drag coefficient gave much larger velocity values than measurements, but it could be improved by adding the bed friction effect and making choice of the depth-averaged velocity within the canopy layer.