Turbulent flow characteristics over rough permeable and impermeable gravel-bed stream- an experimental study

The study aims to presents flow heterogeneity over rough permeable and impermeable gravel-bed stream. The rough permeable stream is prepared by laying multiple layers of gravel, whereas its impermeable counterpart is presented by a resin-casted gravel-bed. In general, a common approach can be found in literature to mimic an impermeable bed by laying single layer of gravels, therefore some results are compared with single layer gravel-bed stream keeping the hydraulic conditions same. An acoustic Doppler velocimeter was used for flow measurements whereas; double averaging (DA) methodology was adopted for data analysis. The larger flow penetration depth and intense flow mixing in permeable gravel-bed infer sufficient impetus for organized flow turbulence and damping of DA Reynolds shear stresses whereas; the wall-blocking in resin-casted gravel-bed prevents fluid infiltration which leads to follow the linear stress profile away from the crest level. The damping of DA Reynolds shear stress (RSS) is compensated by enhanced DA form-induced shear stress (FISS). The results are further analysed under the light of the energy budget to characterize the mass-momentum exchange as it penetrates the subsurface layers. The energy budget indicates negative pressure energy diffusion rates corroborating gain in turbulence production in the permeable gravel-bed stream.