Investigation on several influencing parameters of Aeolian sand transport and deposition law

Abstract

The movement of Aeolian sand transport is a complex gas-solid two-phase flow. Sand transport and settlement are influenced by numerous parameters. To find out the law of sand particle transport and settlement affected by those parameters, the influencing parameters were investigated by the discrete particle model (DPM) of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations and wind tunnel tests. The simulation results revealed that when there was no obstacle and the particle size was given, the sediment transport rate increased with the wind velocity and collision recovery coefficient (CRC). However, when the wind velocity was set, it increased with the particle size. Furthermore, the sediment ratio of the particles decreased with wind velocity. When there was an obstacle in fluid domain, the sediment ratio increased with the wind velocity and the tilt angle, which also increased in size when the particle size was single. The tests results showed that the sediment transport rate increased with wind velocity and decreased with height while the sediment ratio increased with wind velocity and the obstacle tilt angle. This was further confirmed by the reflectivity variation of five aluminum mirrors and five silver mirrors.