The role of turbulent flow on reconfigurable fractal trees: A large eddy simulation (LES) approach*

Trees' turbulent boundary layer canopy interaction is usually dominated by large coherent structures, intermittent energetic eddies, and gusts in the flow. This study investigates such interactions using large-eddy simulation (LES). Each tree is modeled as a self-similar fractal branched multibody structure, with each leading mother branch connected to two daughter branches at each branching node. We study the role flexibility, tree spacing, and geometry heterogeneity play in momentum transfer between the inertial sub-layer and the tree canopies. We also investigate the correlation between flow statistics of different large coherent structures and their associated tree deflections. This enables us to identify how trees' static canopy reconfiguration and dynamic oscillations affect the flow's energetic eddies.