An experimental analysis of canopy flows

An analysis of forest canopy flows with a wind tunnel model at high Reynolds number is presented and discussed. Measured mean velocity and Reynolds stress profiles agree with observations made in real canopies with no sensible Reynolds number dependence, adding confidence to the results obtained with the present setup. The analysis of power density spectra of the three velocity components and of the shear stress co-spectra is reported with new coordinate scalings able to improve the collapse of the spectra compared to standard normalizations. This scaling is mostly based on the respective integral time scale and a simple fit is proposed to estimate such a quantity in real canopies. From the analysis of joint probability density functions, three different regions have been localized where a change in the coherent structure behavior is supposed to take place, similarly to what happens in rough wall turbulent boundary layers.