Waves and turbulence in aquatic canopies
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- For this dissertation, three major topics were explored, each related to submerged aquatic canopies exposed to waves. The first topic was the dynamics of flexible vegetation, specifically how models of wave attenuation can account for flexibility of submerged plant communities. A model for dynamic simulation of a single flexible element exposed to waves was developed and validated through laboratory experiments. The model demonstrated that, despite the presence of chaotic motion, most of the attenuation of mean energy occurs when the element is nearly stationary and has a predictable orientation. Based on this result, an algebraic model with a simple set of parameters was developed for predicting wave attenuation by flexible vegetation. The second topic was the modeling of velocity profiles in wave-driven flows over canopies. High resolution canopy flow measurements were used to determine the hierarchy of momentum budget terms, to test parameterizations for terms in the momentum and turbulent kinetic energy budgets, and to validate a simple 1-D model for predicting velocity profiles. The Reynolds stress was found to be less important in the momentum budget for wave driven flows than previously thought, indicating that relatively simple models can be effective at predicting velocity profiles. The 1-D model developed in this study was designed to be straightforward to implement either in experimental studies of canopy flows or in large scale numerical models. The third topic was the small-scale horizontal variability of the flow within a wave-exposed canopy. An innovative experimental approach was used to fully resolve the in-canopy flow. The resulting data was used to evaluate the possibility of leveraging the self-similarity of element wakes to account for small-scale variability. This approach was found to be effective under certain conditions. When the flow was nearly quasi-steady and 2-D, the behavior was found to be approximately self-similar. In addition some flow statistics were better characterized by self-similarity than others. The results of this study may act as guidelines for how to approach the development of parameterizations for small-scale variability based on self-similarity in future studies.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic; electronic resource; remote |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Publication date | 2015 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Associated with | Zeller, Robert Beardsley |
|---|---|
| Associated with | Stanford University, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. |
| Primary advisor | Koseff, Jeffrey Russell |
| Thesis advisor | Koseff, Jeffrey Russell |
| Thesis advisor | Fong, Derek |
| Thesis advisor | Fringer, Oliver B. (Oliver Bartlett) |
| Advisor | Fong, Derek |
| Advisor | Fringer, Oliver B. (Oliver Bartlett) |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Robert Beardsley Zeller. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. |
| Thesis | Thesis (Ph.D.)--Stanford University, 2015. |
| Location | electronic resource |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2015 by Robert Beardsley Zeller
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).
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