Simulation of flow field inside a coral colony

Abstract eng:
Three-dimensional simulations of flow through a single Pocillopora coral colony were performed to examine the interaction between coral geometry and hydrodynamics. The complex shape of a coral colony poses a significant challenge for numerical simulation. To simplify grid generation and minimize computational cost, the immersed boundary method was implemented. Large eddy simulation was chosen as the framework to capture the turbulent flow field in the range of realistic Reynolds numbers of 5,000 to 30,000. These results presented here give insight into internal coral colony flow fields and the interaction between coral and surrounding ocean hydrodynamics. We found that, in contrast with the one previous numerical study of flow inside a coral colony, the maximum water velocity value in the colony interior was comparable to the value of the uniform flow velocity exterior to the coral.

• Export as: BibTeX | MARC | MARCXML | DC | EndNote | NLM | RefWorks
• Add to your basket