Abstract Riparian vegetation plays a crucial role in determining the flow behaviour in the channel. The effect of flow on the slope and main channel varies based on the size, type, and density of floodplain vegetation in a compound channel. Though real field vegetation distribution is non‐uniform, most studies mainly concentrate on uniformly distributed vegetation with fixed vegetation height. This paper attempts to address this issue through laboratory studies as it was not explored properly. Flow properties like velocity, Reynolds shear stress, turbulence intensities, and turbulent kinetic energy behave differently in heterogeneous vegetated channel compared with the homogeneous vegetated channel. These flow properties in the slopes and main channel section are more pronounced for uniformly distributed vegetation than non‐uniform distribution. The multi‐layered/varying vegetation height showed higher velocity, turbulent intensity, and turbulent kinetic energy than single‐layered/constant vegetation height on slopes and main channel sections. Integral scales (Taylor and Euler) analysis showed greater magnitude for uniform multi‐layered vegetation than non‐uniform multi‐layered vegetation. Further, the study of octant analysis reveals that internal outward and internal inward interaction events dominate the slope floodplain interaction section, which is not seen in no‐vegetation cases. These studies give a better perspective to understand flow in heterogenous vegetation and move closer to real field scenarios.
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