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Flow‐induced reconfiguration of aquatic plants, including the impact of leaf sheltering.
- Source :
-
Limnology & Oceanography . Nov2020, Vol. 65 Issue 11, p2697-2712. 16p. - Publication Year :
- 2020
-
Abstract
- Many aquatic plants are flexible and bend in response to current. This reconfiguration can reduce the drag on the plant, both by reducing the frontal area and by creating a more streamlined shape. Previous studies have considered how the buoyancy and rigidity of a plant impact the drag reduction. This study additionally considered how reconfiguration impacts the sheltering between leaves on a plant and how this, in turn, impacts the drag on the plant. The posture and drag of single‐stemmed, leaved plants were studied through a combination of laboratory experiments and theoretical modeling using both plastic Rotala bonsai and live Bacopa caroliniana. The laboratory experiments measured drag and posture on individual plants over a range of channel velocity. The theoretical model calculated plant posture and drag based on a force balance that included buoyancy, the restoring force due to stem stiffness, and leaf drag modified to account for sheltering between leaves. Leaf sheltering was characterized by a sheltering coefficient, Cs, which is a function of the plant posture, leaf angle, leaf spacing, and leaf width. Cs decreased from 1 to a minimum value, Cs0, associated with a fully deflected, horizontal stem posture. Once validated, the model was used to explore a range of leaf configurations, following examples found in real plants. The modeling and experiments revealed conditions for which drag increased with reconfiguration, and also that the drag reached a finite, limiting value for horizontal stem posture. Neither trend has been described in previous reconfiguration models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Subjects :
- *AQUATIC plants
*DRAG reduction
*DRAG force
*BONSAI
*BUOYANCY
*POSTURE
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 00243590
- Volume :
- 65
- Issue :
- 11
- Database :
- Academic Search Index
- Journal :
- Limnology & Oceanography
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 147243937
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1002/lno.11542