Modelling the effects of vegetation on flow and morphology in rivers

Journal article (2005)

Authors

MJ Baptist Water Resources - CEG
LV Van den Bosch External organisation
J.T. Dijkstra Hydraulic Structures and Flood Risk - CEG
S Kapinga External organisation
Research Group
Water Resources (CEG) (TU Delft)
More Info
expand_more

Published Date

2005

Language

Undefined/Unknown

Reuse Rights

Other than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download, forward or distribute the text or part of it, without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license such as Creative Commons.

Faculty

Civil Engineering & Geosciences

Department

Water Management

Research Group

Water Resources

Abstract

Numerical simulations of the effects of vegetation on flow and morphology are helpful to understand the behaviour of natural rivers and to predict the developments of rehabilitated rivers. However, some fundamental problems remain in modelling these interactions. This paper describes the application of two-dimensional and three-dimensional numerical models to natural and rehabilitated river systems, i.e. the Rhine (the Netherlands), Allier (France) and Volga (Russia). The results show that vegetation has a pronounced effect on flow patterns and morphological developments in rivers. This can be subdivided in remote effects and local effects. Further analysis of the model results shows a fundamental shortcoming in the mathematical modelling of the effects of vegetation on the local sediment transport capacity. Traditional approaches to modelling vegetation roughness yield erroneous results in combination with common sediment transport equations. Therefore, research focuses on the development of new model approaches to accurately simulate the influence of vegetation on flow and morphology.