Committee Council Name: VEGETATED FLOW DYNAMICS

Parent Committee/Council: ECOHYDRAULICS/HYDRAULICS & WATERWAYS

Committee Purpose:

Natural and engineered water environments, including rivers, estuaries, flood plains and wetlands, include vegetation. The effects of vegetation on flow resistance, flooding, transport processes and water quality, and ecology are not well understood by researchers and practioners. Methods that have been developed by researchers, such as methods for determining the effects of vegetation on bulk flow resistance and subsequent effects on flooding, have not been widely adopted by practioners. There is a need to develop a comprehensive and well organized plan that identifies current gaps in our knowledge and understanding of vegetative resistance, and develops a plan for reseach that utilizes advanced experimental, numerical and analytical techniques. There is a need to transfer this knowledge and methods that can be applied for the evaluation of vegetative resistance effects by practioners.

Committee Objectives:

1.Prepare a literature review on vegetative resistance research.

2.Organize sessions at IAHR and ASCE/EWRI meetings aimed at:

i) promoting the exchange of information among practioners and researchers—including universities, government agencies and consultants; and

ii) promoting the benefits of advanced methods of vegetative resistance analysis on the management and design of natural and engineered water environments.

3.Develop working relationship with Ecohydraulics Section of the International Association of Hydraulic Research, IAHR.

Committee Officers

Chair Name: Vincent Neary

Address: Tennessee Tech, Dept. Civil & Envir. Engrg.

Home Phone: 931-372-3604

Preferred E-mail Address: vneary@tntech.edu

Preferred Fax Number: 931-372-6239

Vice Chair Name: Serban George Constantinescu

Address: IIHR-Hydroscience and Engineering, The University of Iowa

Home Phone: 319 384 0630

Preferred E-mail Address: sconstan@engineering.uiowa.edu

Preferred Fax Number: 319 335 5238

Committe Mission and Focus:

One of the key missions of the Hydraulics and Waterways Council is to address environmental issues of increasing importance. Design of friendly fish passage structures and other in-stream structures to restore aquatic habitat as well as understanding the mass exchange processes around these structures (e.g., transport of nutrients between these structures and the main river reach or how pollutant dispersion is affected by the presence of these structures) is an environmental technical issue of increasing importance for river/coastal engineering. Eco-hydraulics provides the vital link between habitat and river engineering.

Milestone dates for completion of planned committee activities:

Prepare Literature Review by August 2008 Organize technical sessions for IAHR Congress Vancouver Fall 2008, and EWRI/ASCE Conference Fall 2008