Submerged Flexible Canopies Produce Weaker Shear‐Layer Turbulence and Mitigate Sediment Transport, Compared to Rigid Model Canopies
Name
Geophysical Research Letters - 2025 - Liu - Submerged Flexible Canopies Produce Weaker Shear‐Layer Turbulence and Mitigate.pdf
Description
Published version
Size
2.32 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
0b714fa7260732a6ae0afc9b49bdadd6
Author(s)
Liu, Chao
Shan, Yuqi
Li, Fujian
Liu, Xingnian
Nepf, Heidi
Date Issued
December 3, 2025
Journal
Geophysical Research Letters
Publisher
American Geophysical Union
Citation
Liu, C., Shan, Y., Li, F., Liu, X., & Nepf, H. (2025). Submerged flexible canopies produce weaker shear-layer turbulence and mitigate sediment transport, compared to rigid model canopies. Geophysical Research Letters, 52, e2025GL117007.
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Submerged vegetation canopies are widespread and influence bedload sediment transport in rivers, wetlands and deltas. However, the impacts of submerged canopies on sediment transport have not been fully quantified. This study used model Vallisneria denseserrulata to construct submerged flexible canopies in a mobile bed. Velocity, turbulence, and bedload transport were measured for a range of canopy submergence and density and compared with theoretical models predicting near-bed turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) and bedload transport. Within a submerged canopy, the near-bed TKE includes not only bed- and stem-generated TKE, but also TKE generated in the shear-layer at the canopy top. The prediction of near-bed TKE and transport rate within submerged canopies improved when the contribution from canopy-shear layer-generated TKE was included. The proposed model can accurately evaluate sediment transport and thus increase the prediction accuracy of vegetated landscapes, providing guidance for the maintenance and restoration of rivers, wetlands and deltas.
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Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1029/2025GL117007
