Abstract
General applicability of a classical drag-force model widely used in predicting flows past urban and vegetation canopies is examined against a detailed database of two-dimensional flows past arrays of circular cylinders (Yokojima et al., J. JSCE B1, 70(4), I_829, 2014.). It is demonstrated that the model can, in general, predict the mean flow property fairly well, as long as the bulk drag coefficient of the array can be estimated in a reasonable way. By providing the spatial distribution of the drag coefficient within the array obtained from the database, the model can reproduce the stagnation phenomena at the leading edge of the array more accurately, but it hardly improves the prediction accuracy of the macroscopic flow features.