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A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Hydraulics and Hydrodynamics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2020) | Viewed by 43349

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Carlo Gualtieri

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Guest Editor

Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering, Università di Napoli Federico II, 80125 Napoli, Italy
Interests: environmental hydraulics; river hydrodynamics; ecohydraulics; computational methods in hydraulics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Dongdong Shao

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Guest Editor

School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
Interests: eco- and environmental-hydraulics; estuarine hydrodynamics; morphodynamics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Athanasios Angeloudis

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Guest Editor

School of Engineering, Institute for Infrastructure & the Environment, University of Edinburgh. Room 1.06 William Rankine Building, Thomas Bayes Road, King's Buildings, EH9 3FG, Scotland, UK
Interests: computational hydraulics; coastal hydrodynamics; ocean energy; water quality

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Environmental hydraulics (EH) is the scientific study of naturally occurring flows of water on our planet Earth, especially of those that affect the environmental quality of the hydrosphere.

Environmental hydraulics encompasses all the transport and transformation phenomena affecting solutes and sediments in the water column as well as several processes of paramount importance across the environmental interfaces such as the air-water, water–sediment, water–vegetation, water–biotic systems, and freshwater–seawater interfaces. Hence, environmental hydraulics is a key point in the water–ecology nexus.

The overall goal of this Special Issue of Water is to present and discuss recent advancements in the field of environmental hydraulics. For this Special Issue papers reporting theoretical, field, laboratory, and numerical investigations on the above phenomena and processes, as well as on their ecological implications for natural water systems, are welcome.

This Special Issue aims to cover, without being limited to, the following areas:

transport processes in natural water systems;
transformation processes in natural water systems;
air-water flows;
sediment transport and morphodynamics in streams and rivers;
hyporheic fluxes;
vegetated flows;
estuarine hydrodynamics and morphodynamics;
eco-hydraulics;
water-ecology nexus.

Prof. Carlo Gualtieri
Assoc. Prof. Dongdong Shao
Dr. Athanasios Angeloudis
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Water is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

Environmental hydraulics
Transport processes in natural systems
Transformation processes in natural systems
Processes at the air-water interface
Processes at the water-sediment interface
Processes at the water-vegetation interface
Processes at the freshwater-seawater interface
Water-ecology nexus

Published Papers (13 papers)

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Editorial

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6 pages, 196 KiB

Open AccessEditorial

Advances in Environmental Hydraulics

by Carlo Gualtieri, Dongdong Shao and Athanasios Angeloudis

Water 2021, 13(9), 1192; https://doi.org/10.3390/w13091192 - 25 Apr 2021

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1803

Abstract

Environmental Hydraulics (EH) is the scientific study of environmental water flows and their related transport and transformation processes affecting the environmental quality of natural water systems, such as rivers, lakes, and aquifers, on our planet Earth [...] Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Environmental Hydraulics)

Research

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22 pages, 5796 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Flow Turbulence Characteristics and Mass Transport in the Near-Wake Region of an Aquaculture Cage Net Panel

by Dongdong Shao, Li Huang, Ruo-Qian Wang, Carlo Gualtieri and Alan Cuthbertson

Water 2021, 13(3), 294; https://doi.org/10.3390/w13030294 - 25 Jan 2021

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2240

Abstract

Cage-based aquaculture has been growing rapidly in recent years. In some locations, cage-based aquaculture has resulted in the clustering of large quantities of cages in fish farms located in inland lakes or reservoirs and coastal embayments or fjords, significantly affecting flow and mass transport in the surrounding waters. Existing studies have focused primarily on the macro-scale flow blockage effects of fish cages, and the complex wake flow and associated near-field mass transport in the presence of the cages remain largely unclear. As a first step toward resolving this knowledge gap, this study employed the combined Particle Image Velocimetry and Planar Laser Induced Fluorescence (PIV-PLIF) flow imaging technique to measure turbulence characteristics and associated mass transport in the near wake of a steady current through an aquaculture cage net panel in parametric flume experiments. In the near-wake region, defined as ~3M (mesh size) downstream of the net, the flow turbulence was observed to be highly inhomogeneous and anisotropic in nature. Further downstream, the turbulent intensity followed a power-law decay after the turbulence production region, albeit with a decay exponent much smaller than reported values for analogous grid-generated turbulence. Overall, the presence of the net panel slightly enhanced the lateral spreading of the scalar plume, but the lateral distribution of the scalar concentration, concentration fluctuation and transverse turbulent scalar flux exhibited self-similarity from the near-wake region where the flow was still strongly inhomogeneous. The apparent turbulent diffusivity estimated from the gross plume parameters was found to be in reasonable agreement with the Taylor diffusivity calculated as the product of the transverse velocity fluctuation and integral length scale, even when the plume development was still transitioning from a turbulent-convective to turbulent-diffusive regime. The findings of this study provide references to the near-field scalar transport of fish cages, which has important implications in the assessment of the environmental impacts and environmental carrying capacity of cage-based aquaculture. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Environmental Hydraulics)

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15 pages, 4360 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Effect of Tubificid Bioturbation on Vertical Water Exchange across the Sediment–Water Interface

by Ruichen Mao, Jintao Wu, Xin Qin, Chi Ma, Jinxi Song, Dandong Cheng, Haotian Sun and Mingyue Li

Water 2020, 12(12), 3467; https://doi.org/10.3390/w12123467 - 10 Dec 2020

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2617

Abstract

The bioturbation activity of macroinvertebrates can affect the level of water exchange across the sediment–water interface. The impact of tubificid worm with different densities on the vertical water exchange at the sediment–water interface was investigated based on laboratory flume experiments. Vertical water fluxes, as well as physiochemical parameters, were measured at seven-day intervals, and the maximum penetration depths were obtained by dye injection before and after the tubificid bioturbation experiment, respectively. The bioturbation effects can be summarized in two aspects: (1) when the density was less than (or equal to) 20 individual/10 cm², the volume of vertical water exchange positively correlated with the tubificid bioturbation. Once the density exceeded (or equaled) 25 individual/10 cm², the vertical water flux decreased with increasing tubificid bioturbation. After 14 to 21 days, a negative correlation was identified between the bioturbation and the vertical water flux under all biological densities. (2) The maximum depth that the surface water can penetrate the sediment increased with increasing tubificid density. These results revealed that the vertical water was closely related to the biological density. The study has certain reference significance to understanding the spatiotemporal heterogeneity of hyporheic water exchange on a local scale. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Environmental Hydraulics)

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18 pages, 3220 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Measurement of Flux at Sediment–Water Interface Using a Seepage Meter under Controlled Flow Conditions

by Changyong Lee, Wonbin Kim and Sung-Wook Jeen

Water 2020, 12(11), 3071; https://doi.org/10.3390/w12113071 - 02 Nov 2020

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2150

Abstract

The accuracy of groundwater flux measurement using a seepage meter was evaluated through a series of laboratory experiments under controlled flow conditions. Simulated groundwater influx and outflux rates were measured using a seepage meter, and the results were compared with the known water flux rates in our controlled tank flow system. Differences induced by the use of two different types of collection bag (Types 1 and 2) were also evaluated. The slopes of the trend lines between the controlled influx rate and influx as measured by the seepage meter were 0.6669 (for Type 1 bag) and 0.8563 (for Type 2 bag), suggesting that the groundwater influx rate as measured by the seepage meter may be less than the actual rate. This may be due to the resistance of the collection bags and head loss induced at the tubing orifice. With respect to outflux measurement, the slopes of the trend line were 1.3534 (for Type 1 bags) and 1.4748 (for Type 2 bags), suggesting that the outflux rate as measured by the seepage meter may be more than the actual rate. The size and wall thickness of the collection bag used affected the measured flux rates. This study suggests that, as long as errors can be identified, seepage meters can be a reliable means of studying groundwater–surface water interactions. Full article

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20 pages, 3087 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Does the Darcy–Buckingham Law Apply to Flow through Unsaturated Porous Rock?

by Antonietta C. Turturro, Maria C. Caputo, Kim S. Perkins and John R. Nimmo

Water 2020, 12(10), 2668; https://doi.org/10.3390/w12102668 - 23 Sep 2020

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 3074

Abstract

The Darcy–Buckingham (DB) law, critical to the prediction of unsaturated flow, is widely used but has rarely been experimentally tested, and therefore may not be adequate in certain conditions. Failure of this law would imply that the unsaturated hydraulic conductivity is not constant for a given water content, as assumed in nearly all subsurface flow models. This study aims to test the DB law on unsaturated porous rock, complementing the few previous tests, all done on soils. Two lithotypes of calcareous porous rocks were tested. The quasi-steady centrifuge method was used to measure the flux density for different centrifugal driving forces while maintaining essentially constant water content, as required. Any deviations from the direct proportionality of the measured flux and the applied force would indicate a violation of the DB law. Our results show that, for the tested rocks and conditions, no physical phenomena occurred to cause a failure of the DB law. Full article

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17 pages, 10624 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Bed Roughness Effects on the Turbulence Characteristics of Flows through Emergent Rigid Vegetation

by Nadia Penna, Francesco Coscarella, Antonino D’Ippolito and Roberto Gaudio

Water 2020, 12(9), 2401; https://doi.org/10.3390/w12092401 - 26 Aug 2020

Cited by 18 | Viewed by 3517

Abstract

During floods, the riparian vegetation in a watercourse significantly changes the velocity distribution and the turbulence structures of the flow. However, a certain influence on them is always exerted by the bed sediments. The aim of the present work is to study the bed roughness effects on the turbulence characteristics in an open-channel flow with rigid and emergent vegetation. Toward this end, an experimental campaign was conducted and consisted of three runs with different bed roughness conditions. The study is based on the analysis of the velocity, Reynolds shear stress, and viscous stress distributions. The results show that, in the region below the free surface region, the flow is strongly influenced by the vegetation. However, moving toward the bed, the flow is affected by a combined effect of vegetation, firstly, and bed roughness, secondly. This flow zone becomes more extended, as the size of the bed sediments increases. The shear stress distributions confirm the distinction between the two flow regions. In fact, the shear stresses are practically negligible in the upper zone of the water depth influenced by vegetation, whereas, owing to the bed roughness, they reach the maximum value near the bed surface. Finally, the analysis of the turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) revealed high values below the crest level and in the near-bed flow zone in the streamwise direction, whereas a strong lateral variation of TKE from the flume centerline to the cylinder occurred in the intermediate region. Full article

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29 pages, 6472 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Computer Aided Approach for River Styles—Inspired Characterization of Large Basins: The Magdalena River (Colombia)

by Andrea Nardini, Santiago Yepez, Lislie Zuniga, Carlo Gualtieri and Maria Dolores Bejarano

Water 2020, 12(4), 1147; https://doi.org/10.3390/w12041147 - 17 Apr 2020

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 6356

Abstract

This paper addresses the geomorphic characterization and classification of large rivers in a framework of scarce information. This is inspired by the River Styles Framework with some modifications that make the process more straightforward and accessible to practitioners and more applicable to large basins, while reducing the subjective, expert-based inputs, as the process is now more systematic. To this aim, it utilizes innovative criteria and some computer-aided procedures and tools based on GIS, Excel and Python. This approach sheds light on the character and the behavior of rivers, which is key to informing planning, management and restoration. The application to the Magdalena River (Colombia) illustrates the characterization and classification process and the type of results, which ultimately highlight the great geomorphic diversity of that river. The process is applicable to many other rivers worldwide. Full article

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18 pages, 6558 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Characterization of Hyporheic Exchange Drivers and Patterns within a Low-Gradient, First-Order, River Confluence during Low and High Flow

by Ivo Martone, Carlo Gualtieri and Theodore Endreny

Water 2020, 12(3), 649; https://doi.org/10.3390/w12030649 - 28 Feb 2020

Cited by 13 | Viewed by 3155

Abstract

Confluences are nodes in riverine networks characterized by complex three-dimensional changes in flow hydrodynamics and riverbed morphology, and are valued for important ecological functions. This physical complexity is often investigated within the water column or riverbed, while few studies have focused on hyporheic fluxes, which is the mixing of surface water and groundwater across the riverbed. This study aims to understand how hyporheic flux across the riverbed is organized by confluence physical drivers. Field investigations were carried out at a low gradient, headwater confluence between Baltimore Brook and Cold Brook in Marcellus, New York, USA. The study measured channel bathymetry, hydraulic permeability, and vertical temperature profiles, as indicators of the hyporheic exchange due to temperature gradients. Confluence geometry, hydrodynamics, and morphodynamics were found to significantly affect hyporheic exchange rate and patterns. Local scale bed morphology, such as the confluence scour hole and minor topographic irregularities, influenced the distribution of bed pressure head and the related patterns of downwelling/upwelling. Furthermore, classical back-to-back bend planform and the related secondary circulation probably affected hyporheic exchange patterns around the confluence shear layer. Finally, even variations in the hydrological conditions played a role on hyporheic fluxes modifying confluence planform, and, in turn, flow circulation patterns. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Environmental Hydraulics)

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18 pages, 2644 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effect of Hyporheic Exchange on Macroinvertebrate Community in the Weihe River Basin, China

by Qidong Lin, Jinxi Song, Carlo Gualtieri, Dandong Cheng, Ping Su, Xinxin Wang, Jiaxu Fu and Jianglin Peng

Water 2020, 12(2), 457; https://doi.org/10.3390/w12020457 - 08 Feb 2020

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 2816

Abstract

The effect of hyporheic exchange on macroinvertebrates is a significant topic in ecohydraulics. A field study was conducted during May and June 2017 to investigate the impacts of magnitude and patterns of hyporheic exchange on the sediment macroinvertebrate community in the Weihe River basin. The results demonstrate that upwelling flows cause resuspension of riverbed sediment, increasing the proportion of swimmer groups (such as Baetidae) in the macroinvertebrate community. However, large resuspension of river bed sediment results in a reduced abundance of macroinvertebrates. By controlling the transport processes of dissolved oxygen (DO), dissolved organic carbon (DOC), nutrients, temperature, and different patterns of hyporheic exchange strongly influence the structure of macroinvertebrate communities. Downwelling is more likely to produce rich invertebrate communities than upwelling. The magnitude for the hyporheic flux of 150–200 mm/d was optimal for the macroinvertebrate community in the Weihe River Basin. Above or below this rate results in a decline in community abundance and diversity. We suggest that research is conducted to better understand the effects of hyporheic exchange across bedforms on macroinvertebrate communities. The study supports any activities to preserve the ecological functions and health of rivers dominated by fine-grained sediments. Full article

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18 pages, 5011 KiB

Open AccessArticle

An Experimental Study on the Effects of Atomized Rain of a High Velocity Waterjet to Downstream Area in Low Ambient Pressure Environment

by Dan Liu, Jijian Lian, Fang Liu, Dongming Liu, Bin Ma and Jizhong Shi

Water 2020, 12(2), 397; https://doi.org/10.3390/w12020397 - 01 Feb 2020

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2302

Abstract

A better understanding of the atomized rain characteristics in low ambient pressure areas is beneficial in reducing the jeopardizing effect of flood discharge atomization on high-altitude hydropower stations. A random splash experiment is designed with two measurement planes to investigate the effects of low ambient pressure on downstream atomized rain under the complicated conditions of low ambient pressure (within 0.60P₀~1.00P₀) and high waterjet velocity (at a magnitude of 10 m/s). The results demonstrate that the atomized rain (rain intensity ≥ 2 mm/h) downstream, characterized by two-dimensional distribution, can be enhanced by decreasing the ambient pressure and by increasing the inflow discharge. When the ambient pressure decreases at the same inflow discharge, both the distance of the rain intensity lines (40 mm/h, 10 mm/h, 2 mm/h) in the horizontal plane from the constricted nozzle outlet and the average rain amount in the inclined plane within the atomized source ratio of ((0~30) × 10⁻³)% appear as “linear” growth. With the ambient pressure decreasing by 0.10P₀, the range of those characteristic rain intensity lines is expanded by 0.68%~1.37%, and the average rain amount is enlarged by 11.06%~20.48%. When keeping the low ambient pressure unchanged, both the point average rain intensity reduction along the releasing centerline and the surface average rain amount growth with increased inflow discharge all follow an exponential function. The aeration reduction in the waterjet boundary and the resistance reduction in atomized water-droplets are contributing factors for the enhancement effect of low ambient pressure. This study can enable the establishment of a foundation to further predict flood discharge atomization in a high-altitude environment. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Environmental Hydraulics)

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19 pages, 1558 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Application of Asymmetrical Statistical Distributions for 1D Simulation of Solute Transport in Streams

by Marek Sokáč, Yvetta Velísková and Carlo Gualtieri

Water 2019, 11(10), 2145; https://doi.org/10.3390/w11102145 - 15 Oct 2019

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 2580

Abstract

Analytical solutions of the one-dimensional (1D) advection–dispersion equations, describing the substance transport in streams, are often used because of their simplicity and computational speed. Practical computations, however, clearly show the limits and the inaccuracies of this approach. These are especially visible in cases where the streams deform concentration distribution of the transported substance due to hydraulic and morphological conditions, e.g., by transient storage zones (dead zones), vegetation, and irregularities in the stream hydromorphology. In this paper, a new approach to the simulation of 1D substance transport is presented, adapted, and tested on tracer experiments available in the published research, and carried out in three small streams in Slovakia with dead zones. Evaluation of the proposed methods, based on different probability distributions, confirmed that they approximate the measured concentrations significantly better than those based upon the commonly used Gaussian distribution. Finally, an example of the application of the proposed methods to an iterative (inverse) task is presented. Full article

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Review

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20 pages, 6322 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperReview

Environmental Hydraulics in the New Millennium: Historical Evolution and Recent Research Trends

by Xianglai Zeng, Carlo Gualtieri, Haifei Liu and Dongdong Shao

Water 2021, 13(8), 1021; https://doi.org/10.3390/w13081021 - 08 Apr 2021

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 3083

Abstract

Environmental Hydraulics (EH) is the scientific study of environmental water flows and their related transport and transformation processes in natural water systems. This review provides some remarks about the historical development of EH throughout three different paradigms or ages, namely, the Public Health Age, the Water Quality Age, and finally the Integrated Environmental Hydraulics Age. We further evaluate how EH research has changed in the last 20 years through a bibliometric analysis of the proceedings of the International Symposium on Environmental Hydraulics (ISEH) and Environmental Fluid Mechanics (EFMC) journal articles conducted using Citespace and Leximancer. Authors and affiliations are analyzed to identify patterns of collaboration, followed by an analysis of the temporal evolution of the EFMC impact index as well as its highly-cited articles. Finally, the major EH topics are identified with a comparison between the topics extracted from the two different sources. As the EH field is becoming rapidly global, some topics were confirmed to have attracted more interest in EH such as Flow Condition, Numerical Modelling, Experimental Measurements. It is hoped that our findings could provide a reference for students, academics, and policy-makers related to EH. Full article

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24 pages, 1768 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceReview

A Review on Mariculture Effluent: Characterization and Management Tools

by Xinyan Wang, Alan Cuthbertson, Carlo Gualtieri and Dongdong Shao

Water 2020, 12(11), 2991; https://doi.org/10.3390/w12112991 - 25 Oct 2020

Cited by 29 | Viewed by 6414

Abstract

While marine aquaculture, or mariculture, has been growing rapidly and globally in recent decades, many environmental concerns remain to be fully addressed to achieve its long-term goal of sustainable development. This paper aims to provide a synthesized perspective on these issues by reviewing and discussing the characterization, transport, and current modelling and management tools associated with effluents released from mariculture sites. Specifically, we examined the effluent characteristics and behavior from source-to-sink, including the composition and load of effluent discharge, its transport and transformation processes in the water column and at the seabed, and its impacts on the pelagic and benthic environments. We then focused on management-related issues, including the setting of the regulatory mixing zone, the establishment of environmental standards, monitoring measures, and modelling techniques to depict the current state-of-the-art modes in a global context. Our study shows that while substantial progress has been made in understanding the nature of the mariculture effluent, as well as in monitoring and modelling its transport and fate, the regulatory framework still lags behind in many countries where the mariculture industry is relevant. This is particularly evident in the lack of consistent criteria for the definition of regulatory mixing zones and the associated environmental standards for water quality and benthic impacts. Besides, as new predictive models are emerging quickly, their proper evaluation and validation are imperative in view of their increasing application in regulatory practices. This review is intended to provide references for advancing regulatory management of mariculture effluents, as well as for promoting sustainable mariculture development. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Environmental Hydraulics)

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