RIASSUNTO
ABSTRACT
The artificial reefs, which often provide stable environment for the attachment of marine organisms and attract large populations of fish, have been thought of as the an effective way to enhance the biological productivity of the sea floor. Theoretically, the performance of the artificial reef could be firmly related to the designed shape of the reef itself and aquatic environment. Consequently, the flow phenomenon surrounding the artificial reefs and the related study of fish-attracting factors often draw the attention of marine ecologists and engineers. Knowledge about the flow pattern around the reefs can be obtained from different sources such as field observation, model experiment and numerical simulation. However, the performance analysis of artificial reefs by means of the field observation and experimental approach could cost much expenditure during the research. Moreover, the interference from the imbedded experimental facility could always be the key issue to spoil the accurate recordings for the flow mechanisms inside the reefs. Therefore, when comparing these methods, the numerical technique which could provide an efficient way and avoid such bothersome problems has been regarded as an economical tool in this research topic. The finite volume numerical method with a well-valid k-epsilon model has been employed to fulfill the artificial-reef flow simulation in this paper.
INTRODUCTION
The country of Taiwan locating at the interaction point of warm and cool currents, where had been a good nature fishing place, has confronted with a serious overfishing problem in recent years. Though people in Taiwan once regarded the marine resources around the island as unlimited, the rapid declines in the yearly fishing amount have shown that the inappropriate harmful fishing methods are being to devastate the near-shore marine ecology of the island and more attention for the issue of maritime recovery should be paid.