Numerical investigation of flow resistance and bed shear stress in vegetation canopies

Aquatic vegetation provides a wide range of ecosystem services including reducing erosion, enhancing sediment deposition and increasing uptake of nutrients. These services are largely determined by the additional flow resistance and altered flow structure induced by vegetation. Therefore, an understanding of the flow within the vegetated regions is essential to properly describe the physical role of vegetation within aquatic systems. This thesis presents new insight into how emergent canopies modify hydrodynamic processes and resistance forces under both unidirectional and oscillatory flow conditions, with a focus on developing new formulations for predicting canopy drag forces and bed shear stresses.