Study of the Mechanism and Modeling of Particle Trapping in Vegetated Flow

The suspended particles, which carry pollutants, are effectively trapped by vegetations in flows. Therefore, study on this process is crucial to water environment. Current studies mainly focus on field observations and laboratory experiments, which is insufficient to find the key mechanism due to the long measurement period and the lack of condition variety. On the other hand, the theoretic development is still in the stage of solving extremely simplified problems, which do not approximate the real-world situations well. Meanwhile, models for numerical simulation are scarce and in demand to be reinforced. The project will build a numerical model and propose the mechanism to describe the process of particle trapping by vegetations in complex aquatic environment. The model will be validated through measured data from experiment and literature research. Simulations under different conditions, such as flow condition, vegetation distribution and particle concentration, will be conducted to find the key factors that affect particle trapping. Thus, the best combination of conditions can be offered to maximize particle trapping. Finally, we will summarize the primary mechanisms for particle trapping in complex aquatic environments, and realize the process by numerical simulation.