I suggested a method to suppress the diffusion of discharged red soil grain in a coral reef near coastal waters by means of a combination of a horizontal outlet and mangrove belts at the river mouth. The invention was composed of a horizontal outlet and some flat steps with a belt of replanted mangrove. Model experiments were planned based on this idea. The many physical phenomena related to this method include admixture, aggregation, sedimentation, diffusion, flow, and waves. Because it was difficult to make the physical model in our laboratory, we considered the qualitative model experiment a practical and easy way to demonstrate the effects of this method.
The fundamental concept for this method was examined and described, and a model was designed with an experimental cistern as a coral reef area. A construct was composed of a horizontal outlet and two step planes of planted mangrove belts. This distorted model should be useful for clarifying the effects of the method under several conditions of tide and discharge from a stream in the next phase. We examined the model experiments for effects on the leaves, branches, trunks and prop roots of a mangrove tree. The experiments were outlined as Froude or Reynolds models. We planned to do the experiments in tap water. Since we observed large differences in diffusion between preliminary experiments with tap water and salt water, real experiments were conducted in tap water containing dissolved salt.
Differences before and afte r setting the model were compared under two tide conditions (Experiment I and Experiment II). One was a low tide that reached the base of the model, and the other was a high tide under which the model was completely submerged. We investigated four cases (from (1) to (4)) in an experimental cistern under these two tide conditions. Case one did not have a model, case two had a horizontal outlet with one flat step, case three had an outlet with two flat steps, and case four was the former model with roughness comparable to mangrove belts. The experimental conditions were similar for all eight experiments.
Although the average amount of trapped deposit in the 49 petri dishes placed on the bottom of the cistern were anticipated to be in the order of (1)≥(2)≥(3)≥(4), it was actually in the order of (1)≥(2)≥(4)≥(3), in experiment I and (3)≥(4)≥(1)≥(2) in experiment II. These results demonstrated that the effects of the model were larger in Experiment I than in Experiment II. Discharged suspension flowed directly into salt water in Experiment II, and did not flow through the inlet and steps.
Experiment I contained a larger amount of trappe d deposit in each region of the model than did Experiment II. For the same experiment, the total amounts of trapped deposit and percentage of it against calculated total value of discharged suspension were larger in the order of (4)≥(3)≥(2), and the amount in Experiment I exceeded that in Experiment II. These results clarified that this method should be useful for the above-stated purpose.
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