Evaluation of Flow Field in the Layouts of Cross-Shaped Artificial Reefs

Artificial reefs (ARs) are purposely submerged in natural aquatic environments to provide additional habitat for fish. The reasonable layout of ARs on the sea floor can effectively enhance and support important marine species. This research involves a three-dimensional numerical simulation to analyze the flow effect of three types of AR layouts based on computational fluid dynamics. Through numerical simulation of the flow past the reefs, we can determine the scale of the upwelling and back-eddy flow. Based on the simulation data, the rational transverse distance between two cross-shaped artificial reefs (CSARs) is 6L (L is the length of the single reef), which is used to design the layouts of CSARs. Five indicators have been used to evaluate the flow field effect of these three layouts. According to the comparison of five indications for different layouts of CSAR, it is more reasonable to divide the AR layouts into two categories: upwelling layout and back eddy layout. Finally, the sphere of influence of the AR layouts on the fisheries resource is also discussed.