Articles | Volume 14, issue 3
https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-14-469-2026
https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-14-469-2026
Research article
 | 
24 Jun 2026
Research article |  | 24 Jun 2026

Grain roughness controls on velocity and bed stress fields around a fully protruding obstacle in supercritical flow

Angel Monsalve and Oscar Link

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Cited articles

Apsilidis, N., Diplas, P., Dancey, C. L., and Bouratsis, P.: Time-resolved flow dynamics and Reynolds number effects at a wall–cylinder junction, J. Fluid Mech., 776, 475–511, https://doi.org/10.1017/jfm.2015.341, 2015. 
Benson, A. H.: The horseshoe vortex in super-critical flow, in: Proceedings of the 26th IAHR World Congress, 26th IAHR World Congress, 20–24, ISBN 978-0727720566, 1995. 
Berberović, E., Van Hinsberg, N. P., Jakirlić, S., Roisman, I. V., and Tropea, C.: Drop impact onto a liquid layer of finite thickness: Dynamics of the cavity evolution, Phys. Rev. E, 79, 036306, https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.79.036306, 2009. 
Bouratsis, P., Diplas, P., Dancey, C. L., and Apsilidis, N.: Quantitative spatio-temporal characterization of scour at the base of a cylinder, Water, 9, 227, https://doi.org/10.3390/w9030227, 2017. 
Buffington, J. M. and Montgomery, D. R.: Effects of hydraulic roughness on surface textures of gravel-bed rivers, Water Resour. Res., 35, 3507–3521, https://doi.org/10.1029/1999WR900138, 1999. 
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Short summary
Mountain rivers create fast-flowing water that behaves differently around obstacles compared to slower flows. We used computer simulations and digital bed representation to study how rough riverbeds affect water flow. Our research shows individual grains completely change water movement, creating chaotic patterns instead of organized flows. This makes forces on riverbeds much more variable than previously thought, important for understanding how mountain rivers shape landscapes.
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