In this study, the method of large-eddy simulation (LES) is applied to investigate the impact of patches of coarsened riverbed sediments on near-bed hydrodynamics and flow resistance. Six simulations are performed with riverbed coverage ratios of coarser particles (Ac/At, where Ac and At are the riverbed area covered by coarsened sediments and the total riverbed area, respectively) ranging from 0 % to 100 %. By ensuring identical crest heights for all particles, the influence of heterogeneous roughness height is eliminated, allowing for an isolated investigation of heterogeneous permeability effects. Results reveal distinct high- and low-flow streaks above coarsened and uncoarsened sediments, associated with elevated and reduced Reynolds shear stress, respectively. These streaky patterns are attributed to time-averaged secondary flows spanning the entire water depth, that converge toward coarsened sediments and diverge from uncoarsened areas. Elevated Reynolds shear stress, up to 1.9 times the reach-averaged bed shear stress, is observed in the interstitial spaces between coarser particles due to intensified hyporheic exchange at the sediment–water interface. Upwelling and downwelling flows occur upstream and downstream of coarsened sediments particles, respectively, driving dominant ejection and sweep events. At Ac/At = 16 %, ejections and sweeps contribute maximally to Reynold shear stress, increasing by up to 130 % and 110 %, respectively – approximately double their contributions in the uncoarsened case. The study identifies two mechanisms driving increased flow resistance over coarsened riverbeds: water-depth-scale secondary flows and grain-scale hyporheic exchanges. Consequently, the reach-averaged friction factor increases by 29.8 % from Ac/At = 0 % to 64 %, followed by a 15.8 % reduction in the fully coarsened scenario.

Submerged vegetation plays a subtle role in exchanging the fluid mass and energy in the vegetated flow zone, where the swaying motions of flexible plants are the important source of turbulent kinetic energy production. Flume experiments were conducted to study the modes, characteristics and factors of swaying of individual submerged flexible plants. A modified plant model in a new form, representing the highly flexible vegetation with clustered leaves, was employed. A ‘rigid-like’ synchronous swaying mode and a ‘whip-like’ asynchronous flapping mode are found to appear alternately for the individual plants. The interaction between these modes depends on the resulting local flow structure affected by the plants. Compared with a plant in isolation with the same flow Reynolds number, the swaying motions of a plant within the vegetation patch are less frequent but more prone to the synchronous mode. The eigen frequency of the motions increases linearly with an increase in flow Reynolds number in the range of 2 × 104–5 × 104, but the normalised amplitude reaches a saturation at a high flow Reynolds number. Moreover, the in-line and spanwise motions have a 2 : 1 frequency ratio for an ‘8’ shaped trajectory on the horizontal plane and a 1 : 1 ratio for a ‘0’ shaped circular trajectory, or a combination of both.

Submerged flexible vegetation occupies the core of aquatic ecosystem research. Hydrodynamics of submerged flexible vegetation and its interaction with the flow in an open channel are of great significance in studying the mass and momentum transports in the flow. In this study, a numerical model for highly flexible vegetation based on large eddy simulation and the immersed boundary method was used to simulate the flow–vegetation interaction. It is recognised that alternate vortices with opposite sense rotations appear at the flow–vegetation interface. These vortices prompt the vegetation canopy to have wave-like coherent waving motion, commonly called the monami phenomena. The spatial scale and the spreading velocity in the streamwise direction of these vortices determine the wavelength, frequency and amplitude of the vegetation coherent waving motion. In this study, the fast Fourier transform method was applied to analyse the factors affecting the characteristics of the vegetation coherent waving motion. It is revealed that, as the flow velocity increases, the wavelength of the coherent waving motion decreases, while the frequency and amplitude increase. Besides, as the vegetation spacing increases, the wavelength and amplitude of the coherent waving motion increase, but the frequency decreases. Furthermore, an increase in the relative density of vegetation magnifies the amplitude of coherent waving motion without affecting the wavelength and frequency.

In this study, we present a three-dimensional numerical model for the interaction of flow with submerged flexible vegetation, based on a large-eddy simulation and the immersed boundary method. The model innovatively realises the interaction between the flow and highly flexible vegetation with clustered leaves. Besides being a three-dimensional model of motion with full degrees of freedom, this study improves the consideration of the motion of the vegetation in all directions, and in addition the energy and momentum transfer in the spanwise direction. Furthermore, we perform a flume experiment for the flow with submerged flexible vegetation, the results of which are used to validate the simulation effects of the numerical model. It is found that the numerical model can effectively simulate the velocity profiles and the movement of vegetation induced by the flow. Using the model to analyse the flow–vegetation interaction, we find that the movement of vegetation is closely related to the flow velocity. As the flow velocity increases, both the offset angle and the vegetation swaying amplitude increase. Compared to vertical rigid vegetation, the tilting of flexible vegetation does not significantly change the velocity difference and the magnitude of the turbulent kinetic energy between the inside and the outside of the vegetation canopy, but it does weaken the disturbance to flow, thus reducing the resistance to flow. However, the swaying of vegetation dose significantly increase the velocity difference between the inside and the outside of the canopy. It forms Kelvin–Helmholtz hairpin vortices intensifying the turbulence production, and enhancing the disturbance and resistance to flow.

In this study, macro-rough flows over beds with different permeability values are simulated using the large-eddy simulation, and the results are analysed by applying the double-averaging (DA) methodology. Spheres of different sizes and arrangements were used to form the beds, which are deemed to be permeable granular beds. The influence of bed permeability on the turbulence dynamics and structure is investigated. It was observed that the scales of the spanwise vortical structures over more permeable beds are larger than those over less permeable beds. This is attributed to large-scale spanwise-alternate strips of varying Reynolds shear stress (RSS), emerging from the surface of macro-rough elements for the permeable beds. The DA stress balance suggests that the time-averaged spanwise vortical structure leads to a damping in DA RSS and an unusual peak of the form-induced stress in the main flow. In the streamwise direction, both large turbulent structures that originate from the Kelvin–Helmholtz-type instability and small turbulent structures that are associated with the turbulent transport across the gaps of the roughness elements are more prevalent over highly permeable beds. Near the bed, the relative magnitude of turbulent events shows a transition from a ejections-dominating to sweeps-dominating zone with vertical distance. Further, several hydrodynamic characteristics normalized by inner scales (kinematic viscosity to shear velocity ratio) show a greater dependency on permeability Reynolds number than those normalized by sediment size. The study provides an insight into the mechanism of mass transfer near the fluid–particle interface, which is vital to benthic and aquatic ecology.