Shelter from the storm? Use and misuse of coastal vegetation bioshields for managing natural disasters

Vegetated coastal ecosystems provide goods and services to billions of people.In the aftermath of a series of recent natural disasters, including the Indian Ocean Tsunami, Hurricane Katrina and Cyclone Nargis, coastal vegetation has been widely promoted for the purpose of reducing the impact of large storm surges and tsunami. In this paper, we review the use of coastal vegetation as a ``bioshield'' against these extreme events. Our objective is to alter bioshield policy and reduce the long-term negative consequences for biodiversity and human capital. We begin with an overview of the scientific literature, in particular focusing on studies published since the Indian Ocean Tsunami in 2004 and discuss the science of wave attenuation by vegetation. We then explore case studies from the Indian subcontinent and evaluate the detrimental impacts bioshield plantations can have upon native ecosystems, drawing a distinction between coastal restoration and the introduction of exotic species in inappropriate locations. Finally, we place bioshield policies into a political context, and outline a new direction for coastal vegetation policy and research.

Unsteady mixed convection flow of a thermomicropolar fluid on a long thin vertical cylinder

The unsteady laminar mixed convection boundary layer flow of a thermomicropolar fluid over a long thin vertical cylinder has been studied when the free stream velocity varies with time. The coupled nonlinear partial differential equations with three independent variables governing the flow have been solved numerically using an implicit finite difference scheme in combination with the quasilinearization technique. The results show that the buoyancy, curvature and suction parameters, in general, enhance the skin friction, heat transfer and gradient of microrotation, but the effect of injection is just opposite. The skin friction and heat transfer for the micropolar fluid are considerably less than those for the Newtonian fluids. The effect of microrotation parameter is appreciable only on the microrotation gradient. The effect of the Prandtl number is appreciable on the skin friction, heat transfer and gradient of microtation.

Simultaneous heat and mass transfer in unsteady free convection from two-dimensional and axisymmetric bodies

The unsteady laminar free convection boundary layer flows around two-dimensional and axisymmetric bodies placed in an ambient fluid of infinite extent have been studied when the flow is driven by thermal buoyancy forces and buoyancy forces from species diffusion. The unsteadiness in the flow field is caused by both temperature and concentration at the wall which vary arbitrarily with time. The coupled nonlinear partial differential equations with three independent variables governing the flow have been solved numerically using an implicit finite-difference scheme in combination with the quasilinearization technique. Computations have been performed for a circular cylinder and a sphere. The skin friction, heat transfer and mass transfer are strongly dependent on the variation of the wall temperature and concentration with time. Also the skin friction and heat transfer increase or decrease as the buoyancy forces from species diffusion assist and oppose, respectively, the thermal buoyancy force, whereas the mass transfer rate is higher for small values of the ratio of the buoyancy parameters than for large values. The local heat and mass transfer rates are maximum at the stagnation point and they decrease progressively with increase of the angular position from the stagnation point.

Effect of natural ventilation on the boundary layer separation and near-wake vortex shedding characteristics of a sphere

Experiments were conducted in water and wind tunnels on spheres in the Reynolds number range 6 x 10(3) to 6.5 x 10(5) to study the effect of natural ventilation on the boundary layer separation and near-wake Vortex shedding characteristics. In the subcritical range of Re (<2 x 10(5)), ventilation caused a marginal downstream shift in the location of laminar boundary layer separation; there was only a small change in the vortex shedding frequency. In the supercritical range (Re > 4 x 10(5)), ventilation caused a downstream shift in the mean locations of boundary layer separation and reattachment; these lines showed significant axisymmetry in the presence of venting. No distinct vortex shedding frequency was found. Instead, a dramatic reduction occurred in the wake unsteadiness at all frequencies. The reduction of wake unsteadiness is consistent with the reduction in total drag already reported. Based on the present results and those reported earlier, the effects of natural ventilation on the flow past a sphere can be categorized in two broad regimes, viz., weak and strong interaction regimes. In the weak interaction regime (subcritical Re), the broad features of the basic sphere are largely unaltered despite the large addition of mass in the near wake. Strong interaction is promoted by the closer proximity of the inner and outer shear layers at supercritical Re. This results in a modified and steady near-wake flow, characterized by reduced unsteadiness and small drag.

Double diffusive unsteady free convection on two-dimensional and axisymmetric bodies in a porous medium

The unsteady laminar free convection flow of an incompressible electrically conducting fluid over two-dimensional and axisymmetric bodies embedded in a highly porous medium with an applied magnetic field has been studied. The unsteadiness in the flow field is caused by the variation of the wall temperature and concentration with time. The coupled nonlinear partial differential equations with three independent variables have been solved numerically using an implicit finite-difference scheme in combination with the quasilinearization technique. It is observed that the skin friction, heat transfer and mass transfer increase with the permeability parameter but decrease with the magnetic parameter. The results are strongly dependent on the variation of wall temperature and concentration with time. The skin friction and heat transfer increase or decrease as the buoyancy forces from species diffusion assist or oppose the thermal buoyancy force. However, the mass transfer is found to be higher for small values of the ratio of the buoyancy parameters than for large values

Combined free and forced convection along a rotating vertical cylinder

The steady incompressible laminar mixed convection boundary layer flow along a rotating slender vertical cylinder with an isothermal wall has been studied. The transformed coupled nonlinear partial differential equations have been solved numerically using the Keller box method. In general, the rotation of the cylinder, the buoyancy forces and the curvature parameter are found to significantly affect the skin friction, heat transfer, velocity and temperature profiles as well as the pressure distribution. The buoyancy forces cause an overshoot in the axial velocity profile but the rotation and curvature parameters reduce it.

Unsteady mixed convection with double diffusion over a horizontal cylinder and a sphere within a porous medium

The combined effects of the permeability of the medium, magnetic field, buoyancy forces and dissipation on the unsteady mixed convection flow over a horizontal cylinder and a sphere embedded in a porous medium have been studied. The nonlinear coupled partial differential equations with three independent variables have been solved numerically using an implicit finite-difference scheme in combination with the quasilinearization technique. The skin friction, heat transfer and mass transfer increase with the permeability of the medium, magnetic field and buoyancy parameter. The heat and mass transfer continuously decrease with the stream-wise distance, whereas the skin friction increases from zero, attains a maximum and then decreases to zero. The skin friction, heat transfer and mass transfer are significantly affected by the free stream velocity distribution. The effect of dissipation parameter is found to be more pronounced on the heat transfer than on the skin friction and mass transfer

Mixed convection along a vertical cone

An analysis is performed to study the flow and heat transfer characteristics for the case of laminar mixed convection along a vertical circular cone. A mixed-convection parameter is introduced in the formulation of the problem such that smooth transition from one convective limit to the other is possible. The transformed conservation equations of the nonsimilar boundary layers are solved by an efficient finite-difference method.