Abstract
The research on wind-driven rain (WDR) transport process of the splash-saltation has increased over the last twenty years as wind tunnel experimental studies provide new insights into the mechanisms of simultaneous wind and rain (WDR) transport. The present study was conducted to investigate the efficiency of the BEST® sediment traps in catching the sand particles transported through the splash-saltation process under WDR conditions. Experiments were conducted in a wind tunnel rainfall simulator facility with water sprayed through sprinkler nozzles and free-flowing wind at different velocities to simulate the WDR conditions. Not only for vertical sediment distribution, but a series of experimental tests for horizontal distribution of sediments was also performed using BEST® collectors to obtain the actual total sediment mass flow by the splash-saltation in the center of the wind tunnel test section. Total mass transport (kg m-2) were estimated by analytically integrating the exponential functional relationship using the measured sediment amounts at the set trap heights for every run. Results revealed the integrated efficiency of the BEST® traps at 6, 9, 12 and 15 m s-1 wind velocities under 55.8, 50.5, 55.0 and 50.5 mm h-1 rain intensities were, respectively, 83, 106, 105, and 102%. Results as well showed that the efficiencies of BEST® did not change much as compared with those under rainless wind condition.
Highlights
The fundamentals of wind-driven rain (WDR) erosion processes have been developed by the studies performed in the wind tunnel rainfall simulator facility at the International Centre for Eremology (ICE), Ghent University, Belgium [1,2,3]
Sediment transport exhibited an exponential decrease with height at each wind velocity, with the majority of the sediment moving within the first centimeters from the sand surface with these velocities
Comprehension of splash-saltation mechanics under WDR conditions could only be possible through proper determination of the maximum horizontal and vertical transportation distances, average horizontal and vertical transportation distances and the forces affecting these parameters
Summary
The fundamentals of WDR erosion processes have been developed by the studies performed in the wind tunnel rainfall simulator facility at the International Centre for Eremology (ICE), Ghent University, Belgium [1,2,3] Some of these have well documented that splashsaltation process could cause net transportation in the prevailing wind direction [4]. This brought new insight for the process mechanics in which particle detachment or dislodgement (splash) and particle saltation, respectively, by raindrop impact and wind, constitute major components of the transport system. This cooperative work of rain and wind for eroding soil is significantly different from those under rain-free wind and wind-free rain [5,6].
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