Investigation of Nonsubmerged Vegetation Cover Resistance Against Flow in Riversides

Tamarix sricta plant grows in riversides of Karun river. Outer body plant in the flood times causes decrease in water velocity, preventing erosion. One of the factors by which the hydraulic resistance is expressed is the roughness coefficient. Measurement of roughness coefficient of the existing plants in these riversides and floodplains, and surveying their effects on the velocity decrease and shear stress of the flow are important. The present research studies roughness coefficient of the plants manning existing in the riverside. Tamaix sricta was studied in non-submerged and sub-critical conditions in a flume with the length of 12.6 m, width of 0.5 m and height of 0.6 m in different velocity, discharge and depth ranges. The height of plants in this study was 35 cm with a natural arrangement in a bench of 2.8 m in length put in the bed of the flume. The total number of the experiments is 22. The results of this study show that roughness coefficients of plants are functions of velocity, depth, hydraulic radius and type of plants. Roughness coefficients in non-submerge condition change nonlinearly with changes in velocity, depth, Reynolds number, submerge depth and (VR) in natural conditions.