Turbulent energy and momentum transport across the boundary layer of fractal flexible surfaces

The interaction between the turbulent boundary layer and rough surfaces has attracted the attention of the research community over the past several decades. One natural prototype of such interaction is tree canopies. Yet, little is known about the turbulent interaction with flexible branched tree canopies. Our research uses Large Eddy Simulation (LES) methods to study the turbulent boundary layer interaction with flexible trees, with dynamics represented through a reduced-order Newton-Euler formulation. We will discuss different forms of tree responses and explore the coherent flow structures inside the turbulent boundary layer above and within the tree canopy for different tree flexibilities and branching ratios in two canonical arrangements: aligned and staggered placements. We will then discuss how energy is distributed over the canopy height and identify the spatial and temporal correlations inside the turbulent boundary layer using spectral analysis.