Sand control effect of HDPE sandbreak nets with different porosity structure

Abstract

Straw checkerboard sand barriers with a porous structure that consists of a pervious upper portion and a dense lower portion are widely used to achieve great sand control effect. Considering this, and resolving the serious earth surface undercutting problem after HDPE sandbreak net checkboard barriers setting, the authors used HDPE (high-density polyethylene) materials to prepare new sandbreak materials with a similar porous structure. Through wind tunnel simulations and field sand control monitoring, we compared the sand control effect of three HDPE sandbreak nets with different porosity structure. Compared to the sandbreak net with uniform porosity structure, the three types of HDPE sandbreak nets with different porosity structure had poorer effect on reducing sand transport rates, but had longer effective protection distance before sandbreak nets at low wind velocity conditions (<12 m/s), longer effective protection distance at high wind velocity (>14 m/s) and longer effective protection distance between sandbreak nets at all experimental wind velocity conditions. Wind and sand control effect characteristics of HDPE sandbreak nets with different porosity structure provide an ideal material on semi-buried checkerboard sand barriers for sand stabilization. By contrast, uniform-type sandbreak nets are used as materials on high upright sand fences for sand blocking. These HDPE sandbreak nets can be used to replace traditional sandbreak materials and have a very high potential for widespread and popular application in aeolian sand disaster control.