A new model for settling velocity of non-spherical particles.

The settlement of non-spherical particles, such as propagules of plants and natural sediments, is commonly observed in riverine ecosystems. The settling process is influenced by both particle properties (size, density, and shape) and fluid properties (density and viscosity). Therefore, the drag law of non-spherical particles is a function of both particle Reynolds number and particle shape. Herein, a total of 828 settling data are collected from the literatures, which cover a wide range of particle Reynolds number (0.008-10000). To characterize the influence of particle shapes, sphericity is adopted as the general shape factor, which varies from 0.421 to 1.0. By comparing the measured drag with the standard drag curve of spheres, we modify the spherical drag law with three shape-dependent functions to develop a new drag law for non-spherical particles. Combined with an iterative procedure, a new model is thus obtained to predict the settling velocity of non-spherical particles of various shapes and materials. Further applications in hydrochorous propagule dispersal and sediment transport are projected based on deeper understanding of the settling process.

Random walk particle tracking simulation on scalar diffusion with irreversible first-order absorption boundaries.

Scalar transport in an open channel with irreversible first-order absorption boundaries is investigated through random walk particle tracking method (RWPT). We provide the pre-asymptotic behavior of scalar transport as well as a comparison with existing asymptotic formulations. The RWPT method is based on the development of the probability that a particle is absorbed at the boundary. The random walk model is applied to simulate three main parameters of the scalar transport in the laminar flow with sorption boundaries. The three parameters are (1) the attenuation coefficient reflecting the depletion rate of the total mass; (2) the effective velocity coefficient representing the effective advection of the total mass; and (3) the effective longitudinal dispersion coefficient expressing the effective spreading rate of the solute plume. When the Peclet number is large, numerical results agree well with previous theoretical solutions. Results show that (1) the three coefficients reach their asymptotic values when the dimensionless time τ (= Dt/H2) is about 0.5, where t is the time, H is the water depth, and D is the molecular diffusion coefficient and (2) when the Damkohler number reaches a value around 100, the boundary can be treated as a totally absorptive boundary.

Friction factor for turbulent open channel flow covered by vegetation.

The need for operational models describing the friction factor f in streams remains undisputed given its utility across a plethora of hydrological and hydraulic applications concerned with shallow inertial flows. For small-scale roughness elements uniformly covering the wetted parameter of a wide channel, the Darcy-Weisbach f = 8(u*/Ub)2 is widely used at very high Reynolds numbers, where u* is friction velocity related to the surface kinematic stress, Ub = Q/A is bulk velocity, Q is flow rate, and A is cross-sectional area orthogonal to the flow direction. In natural streams, the presence of vegetation introduces additional complications to quantifying f, the subject of the present work. Turbulent flow through vegetation are characterized by a number of coherent vortical structures: (i) von Karman vortex streets in the lower layers of vegetated canopies, (ii) Kelvin-Helmholtz as well as attached eddies near the vegetation top, and (iii) attached eddies well above the vegetated layer. These vortical structures govern the canonical mixing lengths for momentum transfer and their influence on f is to be derived. The main novelty is that the friction factor of vegetated flow can be expressed as fv = 4Cd(Uv/Ub)2 where Uv is the spatially averaged velocity within the canopy volume, and Cd is a local drag coefficient per unit frontal area derived to include the aforemontioned layer-wise effects of vortical structures within and above the canopy along with key vegetation properties. The proposed expression is compared with a number of empirical relations derived for vegetation under emergent and submerged conditions as well as numerous data sets covering a wide range of canopy morphology, densities, and rigidity. It is envisaged that the proposed formulation be imminently employed in eco-hydraulics where the interaction between flow and vegetation is being sought.