219-Effect of Vegetation on Sediment Transport by Stream Flow.

Abstract

Several studies are available on resistance to flow due to rigid and flexible submerged and unsubmerged vegetation. Much less numbers of investigations are however available on the topic of sediment transport through vegetated channels. A critical review on this topic is presented herein with field examples. An analytically derived expression is presented for estimation of flow velocity through the vegetated channel flows which is validated by using the laboratory data. A procedure is also outlined for determination of the tractive force or effective shear stress by the flow responsible for sediment transport in vegetated channel flows. Thus derived effective shear stress values are noticed to be strongly correlated with the sediment transport rates observed in a vegetated laboratory channel flow. The topics for future investigations on the subject of vegetated channel flows are also outlined.