Time-averaged velocity and scalar fields of the flow over and around a group of cylinders: a model experiment for canopy flows

We conduct a well-controlled model experiment for a wide variety of canopy flows. Examples of these include engineering flows such as wind flow, dispersion of scalars through and over urban areas, and the convective heat transfer in many heat exchangers, as well as natural canopies such as flows through terrestrial or aquatic vegetation. We aim to shed the light on fundamental flow and transport phenomena common to these applications. Specifically, the characteristics of mean flow and scalar concentration characteristics of a turbulent boundary layer flow impinging on a canopy, which comprises a cluster of tall obstacles (this can also be interpreted as a porous obstruction). The cluster is created with a group of cylinders of diameter d and height h arranged in a circular patch of diameter D . The solidity of the patch/obstruction is defined by ϕ (the total planar area covered by cylinders), which is systematically varied ( 0.098≤ϕ≤1 ) by increasing the number of cylinders in a patch ( Nc ). A point source is placed at ground level upstream of the patch and its transport over and around the patch is examined. Time-averaged velocity and scalar fields, obtained from simultaneous planar particle image velocimetry-planar laser-induced fluorescence (PIV-PLIF) measurements, reveal that the characteristics of wake and flow above porous patches are heavily influenced by ϕ . In particular, we observe that the horizontal and vertical extent of the wake and scalar concentration downstream of the patches decreases and increases with ϕ , respectively. Here, the recirculation bubble is shifted closer to the trailing edge (TE) of the patches as ϕ increases, limiting the flow from convecting downstream, decreasing the scalar concentration and virtually ‘extending’ the patch in the streamwise direction. As the bubble forms in the TE, vertical bleeding increases and hence the concentration increases above the patch where the cylinders appear to ‘extend’ vertically towards the freestream.