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Drag coefficient for rigid vegetation in subcritical open-channel flow

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Abstract

Drag coefficient has been commonly used as a quantifying parameter to represent the vegetative drag, i.e., resistance to the flow by vegetation. In this study, the measured data on the drag coefficient for rigid vegetation in subcritical open-channel flow reported in previous studies are collected and preprocessed for multi-parameter analysis. The effect of Froude number (Fr) on the drag coefficient for rigid vegetation in subcritical flow cannot be ignored, especially when \(Fr < 0.12\). The drag coefficient is observed to exponentially decrease with the stem Reynolds number (R d ) and logarithmically decreased with the vegetation density (λ) when \(0.012 < \lambda < 0.12\). The relative submergence (h *) has a significant effect on the drag coefficient, and a positive logarithmic relationship is summarized. A simplified three-stage empirical formula is obtained based on the divisions of Fr. Laboratory tests (with \(Fr < 0.02\)) prove that the present empirical model has higher precision compared with existing models.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported in part by the natural science foundation of China (Nos. 51379154, 51439007 and 51622905).

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  1. State Key Laboratory of Water Resources and Hydropower Engineering Science, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, China

    **aoguang Liu & Yuhong Zeng

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  1. **aoguang Liu
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  2. Yuhong Zeng
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Correspondence to Yuhong Zeng.

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Liu, X., Zeng, Y. Drag coefficient for rigid vegetation in subcritical open-channel flow. Environ Fluid Mech 17, 1035–1050 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10652-017-9534-z

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