Flow within vegetation is one of the main driving forces for material exchange and energy transfer in wetland systems. Impacted by vegetation, the flow velocity profile illustrates distortions to the classic logarithmic velocity profile and has attracted much attention among researchers. Different from analytical models of velocity distribution in literature, which is mainly suitable for vegetation with uniform frontal width, this paper establishes new analytical solutions of the velocity profile for vegetation such as shrub and sedge that have a variable frontal width in the vertical direction. A new shape function is proposed under these conditions in which the frontal width exhibits a gradual increase in the vertical direction from bottom up in the vegetation. Along with different closure models for eddy viscosity in the vegetation layer and surface layer, analytical solutions of the velocity profile are derived from the momentum equations. Good agreement between calculated and measured data shows our analytical model is effective in predicting velocity profiles.

Peer Reviewed