Author(s): Tommaso Lazzarin; George Constantinescu; Hao Wu; Daniele P. Viero
Linked Author(s): Hao Wu, George Constantinescu
Keywords: Freshwater mussels; Mussel bed; Turbulence; Gravel bed; Fully developed flow
Abstract: Freshwater mussels are key elements in many fluvial ecosystems, and their imperiled status has led to increased scientific interest in recent years. Numerical simulations have been used to study the flow around isolated mussels or small arrays, and earlier studies were based on smooth beds (e.g., Wu et al. 2020). However, mussels typically live in sand or gravel beds, and Lazzarin et al. (2023) showed that bed roughness plays a significant role in flow and turbulence structures around an isolated, partially-buried mussel. In addition, Lazzarin et al. (2024) investigated the case of musselbeds: mean drag forces on the shells decrease with increasing roughness, and bed roughness was also found to alter the near-bed flow when mussel density was relatively low. Starting from this observation, the present study quantifies the effect of bed roughness on flow and turbulence levels in channels with mussel arrays.
Year: 2025