Novel Ecohydraulic Approaches in River and Hydro-Environmental Engineering:
From Field- and Remote Sensing-based Experimental Measurements to Predictive Modeling and Numerical Simulations (IAHR_5_S1)
Convenors: Giuseppe Francesco Cesare Lama (University of Naples), Melissa Latella (Politecnico di Torino), Cosimo Peruzzi (Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA))
Topic
The proper analysis and prediction of the hydrodynamic interaction between water flow and vegetation covering natural and manmade vegetated rivers are among the main objectives of Ecohydraulics. Riverine and riparian plants have a paramount impact on flow resistance and water quality associated with vegetated water bodies. Also, the presence of vegetation considerably affects the mean and turbulent flow fields with important implications on oxygen production and nutrient transport within vegetated open channels. In this perspective, the use of advanced field and remote sensing techniques to measure the most relevant features of plants constitutes a stimulating open research window. Scientific contributions to this Special Session may range from the experimental analysis of ecohydrological and ecohydraulic trends of vegetated waterways, rivers, and hydro-environmental engineering at both flume and field scales of investigation, the proposal of novel setup and devices as well as advanced numerical simulation approaches (i.e., machine learning, computational fluid dynamics).