The Investigation of the Hydrodynamics of an Artificial Reef - Aquaculture and the Environment: A Shared Destiny - page 97

Fig. 20. Horizontal flow velocity contour plots of a single and two artificial reefs with
different spacings (Z=0.5 h )
Fig. 21 shows that the flow velocity within and in the front of the first artificial reef with
different spacings is approximately equal to that of a single reef; however, the flow
velocities in the rear of two reefs are less than that of the single condition. The same
distribution regularity of the flow velocity between two artificial reefs is obtained for
different spacings. The flow velocity decreases first and then increases suddenly in the front
field of the second artificial reef. The same distribution rules for flow velocities also exist in
the rear of the two reefs for different spacings. When the spacing is 4.0 h, the minimum flow
velocity in the area between the two artificial reefs has a minimum value; after that point, it
increases with spacing. It was also found that the minimum velocity in the back of the two
reefs is acquired at the spacing of 2.0 h , and a large gap was found compared with other
conditions. After the key point in the back field of two reefs where the flow velocity is the
minimum, a larger spacing leads to a lower flow velocity.