Sand Particle Size Research Articles

Size effect on contact behavior in DEM simple shear tests

The 2–2.5 times the simulated sand diameter is widely accepted in giving reasonable DEM simulation results for geotechnical testing. However, it neglects the effect of a specimen height to maximum particle diameter ratio in a specific laboratory test, which may lead to a strong stress concentration and flawed simulations. This study compared laboratory simple shear tests with corresponding DEM simulations with different particle sizes. The DEM model used clump rings to simulate physical rings in the test, and decreased the additional stress applied by the widely used wall-type rings. Results showed that (1) DEM models with tested particle size and twofold sand particle size (1D and 2D tests) can better capture the tested stress–strain behavior, volumetric changes, and noncoaxiality, the 4D model has an asymmetrical distribution of contact force and contact number, indicating the specimen is inhomogeneous and has a strong stress concentration. (2) a specimen height to maximum particle diameter ratio smaller than 10 (it is greater than 10 in the ASTM D6528) could provide reasonable macro-meso mechanical behaviors. Similar studies should be carried out after trial tests on determining a reasonable specimen height to maximum particle diameter ratio under the guidance of ASTM D6528.

Correlation Analysis between Color and Grain Size of Sand Using a Colorimeter

Nam, J.; Hong, S.; Lee, Y., and Kim, I., 2021. Correlation analysis between color and grain size of sand using a colorimeter. In: Lee, J.L.; Suh, K.-S.; Lee, B.; Shin, S., and Lee, J. (eds.), Crisis and Integrated Management for Coastal and Marine Safety. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 114, pp. 201–205. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. To determine the cause of coastline changes, it is necessary to monitor various parameters such as wave data, changes in water depth, seabed topography and quality, as well as sea currents. This study aims to derive a correlation between grain size and color of sand on a coast undergoing erosion in Namae 3-ri∼Sodol beach. Therefore, for a period of six years (2013 to 2018), the depths of the foam zone, the breaking band, and other factors were divided for each cross-base line (DL(±) 0.00 m, DL(-) 3.00 m, DL(-) 6.00 m, and DL(-) 9.00 m). Seabed samples were collected from four vertices, and the median particle size and color characteristics of sand were recorded. Results showed that the average D50 particle sizes for DL(±) 0.00 m, DL(-) 3.00 m, DL(-) 6.00 m, and DL(-) 9.00 m were 0.615 mm, 0.432 mm, 0.416 mm, and 0.410 mm, respectively. In addition, the color of the sand that was passed through the colorimeter is represented by L* (white-black), a* (green-red), and b* (yellow-blue); these colors were expressed as a number to present a unique value. DL(±) 0.00 m = L* 61.12082, a* 5.757663, b* 17.93326; DL(-) 3.00 m = L* 61.81803, a* 5.03382, b* 16.79151; DL(-) 6.00 m = L* 61.74719, a* 4.886109, b* 16.54382; and DL(-) 9.00 m = L* 61.70353, a* 4.815222, and b* 16.42189. Furthermore, the sand color values a* and b* were coordinated, distributed on the beach, and then a color range converted to the value of the radius of the polar coordinate (r) was presented and compared with the particle size. To compare the a* and b* values with the sand particle size, r is expressed as a first-order function. The R-square of the first-order function was 0.9411, which was found to be highly reliable, and the exponential function was found to have a reliability of 0.5573. This result shows that the a* and b* values can be inferred according to the particle size of the sand.

Nonlinear Kernel Convolutional Neural Network to Find Median Sand Particle Size

Kim, H.; Yoo, H.J., and Lee, J.L., 2021. Nonlinear Kernel Convolutional Neural Network to find median sand particle size. In: Lee, J.L.; Suh, K.-S.; Lee, B.; Shin, S., and Lee, J. (eds.), Crisis and Integrated Management for Coastal and Marine Safety. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 114, pp. 1-5. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) has successfully been used in various areas. We focus on predicting various sand particle sizes by applying convolutional neural network with a nonlinear kernel. The nonlinear kernel involves a bias and negative square of subtraction between input image pixel numbers and the kernel coefficients and summation. The convolution layer conform new feature map in Convolutional Neural Network. While using batch gradient descent method to train relevant coefficients and biases, the gradient of the square of subtraction term appears in the whole gradient over each kernel coefficient. The network was examined on regular-sized sands, i.e. 2000, 1000, 500, 250, 125 and 63 micrometer. The network was trained by using various images for each size. It was validated against new images and the absolute error was less than 30 micrometer, respectively, which is satisfactory. The network was applied by using 3 images of sands with size distribution. The results show good validation and satisfactory predictions. In the course of study, several numbers of kernels, kernel sizes, pooling sizes were tried and the optimum architecture for this work was chosen. It is expected that the present network will reduce time and effort in obtaining median sand size in many field projects. The size distribution of sand particles could also be obtained with the present network in the near future.

Experimental study on the permeability and seepage characteristics of bimsoils

Bimsoils are a loose rock and soil system, and the occurrence of geological hazards is closely related to water. To investigate the permeability and seepage characteristics of bimsoils, factors on permeability are discussed in detail considering cementation state, and variable mass seepage is studied tentatively with self-developed apparatus. Results shown that the order of factors on permeability is rock content > cementation degree > rock size > Talbot index (describing the mass percentage for different particle size of sand), and there are significant differences between factors. Besides, permeability generally increases with the increase of rock content and decreases with the increase of cementing agent content, while increases slightly due to agglomeration effect at the clay content of 8%. It is more obvious for reducing the permeability of higher rock content bimsoils by strong cementing agent, however, it tends to be same eventually with cement content increasing. The seepage of bimsoils is dominated by fine particle losses, and the secondary inrush occurs under the larger particle radius ratio. Moreover, particle losses and the time needed for secondary inrush both increase with the increase of particle radius ratio. The results would provide consults for the preparation of similar materials and the prevention of tunnels and underground engineering disasters.

Permeability Characteristics of Water-Sand Seepage in Fracture by Experiment

Studies on the seepage characteristics of water-sand cracks are of great significance to reveal the mechanisms of water and sand inrush. Using a self-made water-sand fracture seepage test instrument, a water-sand seepage test was carried out, and the permeability of water and sand in the fracture was determined. The hysteresis characteristics of water-sand flow in the fracture were obtained after the required permeability was attained. The results show that the hysteresis curve changes from type I to type IV with the increase in sand particle size and concentration. The hysteresis parameters are described by the maximum hysteresis Gp ∗ and the hysteresis area S, both of which show an increasing trend with the increase in sand particle size and concentration; however, this increase is not synchronous. The average velocity and turbulent kinetic energy distribution of the water-sand fluid on the fracture cross section are greatly affected by the particle size and concentration of the volume of sand. This study can provide a reference for further study of water inrush from a shallow coal seam. Through simulation, it is found that the particle size has a great influence on the seepage velocity, and the influence near the side wall surface is greater than that in the middle position.

Mechanism of Sand Cementation with an Efficient Method of Microbial-Induced Calcite Precipitation.

This paper presents an efficient method of microbial-induced calcite precipitation (MICP) for cementation of sand particles. First, the influence of initial pH value of the culture medium on the growth of bacteria was discussed. Then, the compressive strength and calcium carbonate content of cemented sand columns with different sand particle sizes were measured to indicate the cementation effectiveness. The microstructure of cemented sand columns as well as the mineral composition and distribution of calcium carbonate were characterised by means of scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive spectrometer (SEM-EDS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The results showed that the urease-producing bacteria S. pasteurii can be cultured at the initial pH values of 7–10, while a higher pH (e.g., 11) would hinder its growth and decrease its urease activity. The injection method of MICP with high standing time can cement sand columns effectively. Small average sand particle size of sand columns and high injection cycles can facilitate the gain of compressive strength, while calcium carbonate content of sand column higher than 8% can promote the increase of compressive strength. XRD results indicate that the fine grains generated on the surface of sand particles are calcite. The distribution of calcite on sand particles’ surface is broad and uniform. First, calcite was precipitated on the surface of sand particles, and then a precipitation layer was formed, which would connect sand particles through its high enough thickness and contribute to the development of compressive strength of the whole sand column.

Experimental study on the mesoscale causes of the effect of sediment size and concentration on material cavitation erosion in sandy water

The cavitation erosion of materials in sandy water is a very important topic in water conservancy and industrial production. In this paper, an ultrasonic vibration cavitation apparatus and underwater low-voltage electric discharge device are applied to investigate the erosion characteristics of 6063 aluminium specimens in sandy water with different sediment sizes and concentrations and the underlying mesoscale damage mechanism. The results show that the specimen damage gradually increases as the mean sand particle size increases. When the mean sand particle size is less than 0.120 mm, the resulting damage is lower than that in pure water. When the sand concentration is less than 10 kg/m3, the resulting damage is not very different from that in pure water. As the sediment concentration in the sand-water mixture increases, the influence of the sand particles on cavitation gradually increases. The bubble-particle interaction experiments reveal that the cavitation bubbles that interact with multiple small spherical particles show obvious non-spherical morphology and prolong the collapse time during the first collapse phase and reduce the collapse strength. The results of the bubble-particle interaction experiments verify the erosion characteristics obtained from the ultrasonic vibration cavitation test, which is significant for elucidating the damage mechanics of specimens in sandy water.

Modeling and Durability Behavior of Erosion-Corrosion of Sand Control Screens in Deepwater Gas Wells.

Deepwater gas wells usually have high production rates, which result in high-speed sand movement along with the gas flow and acid components such as CO2 in the gas flow. The erosion and corrosion effect intensifies the damage to sand screens and can further lead to sand control failures, which endanger the safety of production operations. In this paper, using a differential rotation device to simulate erosion, corrosion, and erosion–corrosion, experiments observing the impacts of several factors on sand screens were carried out. The factors include CO2 partial pressure, temperature, flow velocity, sand content, and sand particle size. Their impacts on erosion, corrosion, and erosion–corrosion rate are inspected independently, and the sensitivity of factors to the erosion–corrosion rate of a sand screen was determined using the range method. Traditional erosion models involving flow rate, sand content, and sand grain size and traditional corrosion models involving CO2 partial pressure and temperature are taken as references, and an erosion–corrosion coupled model of sand screens is established based on the experimental results using the multivariate regression analysis. With critical damage thickness taken as the failure criterion of a sand screen, a prediction method for sand screen failure is formed and is applied to the case study of the S deepwater gas field. The results show that under the experimental conditions, the screen loss rate due to erosion–corrosion is significantly higher than that of erosion only or corrosion only and is even higher than the sum of both. The erosion–corrosion rate increases with the increase of CO2 partial pressure, temperature, flow velocity, sand content, and sand particle size. It has an exponential relationship with the negative reciprocal of temperature, a linear relationship with the partial pressure of CO2, and power fitting relationships with flow velocity, sand content, and sand particle size. The ranking of sensitivities to the erosion–corrosion rate of high-quality screens is as follows: sand content > flow velocity > temperature > sand particle size > CO2 partial pressure. The error between the predicted results by the proposed model and the experimental results is in the range of 0.44–9.47%. The erosion–corrosion rate of sand screens in each production well of the S gas field is in the range of 0.0111–0.0521 mm/a, while the durability of the screens is 14–68 years. The erosion–corrosion rate model of a sand screen and the prediction method for sand screen failure proposed in this paper provide theoretical support to the durability evaluation of sand screen in deepwater gas wells, which is of great significance for ensuring the safe and efficient development of offshore oil and gas resources.

Parametric appraisal of strength & hardness of resin compacted sand castings using hybrid Taguchi-WASPAS-Material Generation Algorithm

When compared to green sand moulds, resin bound sand moulds and cores have higher mechanical characteristics and create more dimensionally exact castings, and are thus increasingly preferred for near net form metal components. The effect of binder %, sand particle size and curing time on the mechanical characteristics of no-bake resin bonded mould core was studied in this study using lab testing. Their mechanical characteristics were discovered to rise with the addition of binder amount and curing time, along with dropping with increasing grain fineness number. Microscopic study of cross-linked resin bridges between sand grains also supports this. To get the best blend of mould characteristics, the results were optimized using the WASPAS technique and the Material Generation Algorithm. Tests were used to successfully validate the model and its findings. This study lays the groundwork for optimizing the moulding parameters of resin reinforced sand mould cores in order to achieve the best quality.

Parametric appraisal of collapsibility and core shrinkage of phenol binded unbaked casting moulds using Taguchi-Sunflower optimization algorithm

When compared to green sand moulds, resin bound sand moulds and cores have higher mechanical characteristics and create more dimensionally exact castings, and are thus increasingly preferred for near net form metal components. The effect of catalyst %, sand particle size and no. of strokes for compression on collapsibility and core shrinkage of no-bake resin bonded mould core was studied in this study using lab testing. Their collapsibility were discovered to decrease and core shrinkage increase with the addition of catalyst amount and bigger grain size. Microscopic study of cross-linked resin bridges between sand grains also supports this. To get the best blend of mould characteristics, the results were optimized using the Taguchi technique and Sunflower optimization algorithm. Tests were used to successfully validate the model and its findings. It was reported that the Sunflower optimization algorithm made more precise prediction than Taguchi method in maximization of collapsibility and minimization of core shrinkage. This study lays the groundwork for optimizing the moulding parameters of resin reinforced sand mould cores in order to achieve the best quality.

Experimental Investigations of Offshore Sand Production Monitoring Based on the Analysis of Vibration in Response to Weak Shocks

Sand production is a problem that is often encountered in unconventional oil and gas exploitation and that is difficult to effectively solve. Accurate online monitoring of sand production is one of the keys to ensuring the safety and long-term production of oil wells as well as efficient production throughout the life cycle of production wells. This paper proposes a method for monitoring sand production in offshore oil wells that is based on the vibration response characteristics of sand-carrying fluid flow impinging on the pipe wall. This method uses acceleration sensors to obtain the weak vibration response characteristics of sand particles impinging on the pipe wall on a two-dimensional time-frequency plane. The time-frequency parameters are further optimized, and the ability to identify weakly excited vibration signals of sand particles in the fluid stream is enhanced. The difference between the impact response of the sand particles and the impact response of the fluid flow to the pipe wall is identified, and corresponding indoor verification experiments are carried out. Under different sand contents, particle sizes, and flow rates (sand content 0-2‰, sand particle size 96-212 μm, and flow velocity 1-3 m/s), the impact response frequency of sand particles to the pipe wall exhibits good consistency. The characteristic frequency band of sand impacting the pipe wall is 30-50 kHz. A statistical method is used to establish the response law of the noise signal of the fluid. Based on this knowledge, a real-time calculation model of sand production in offshore oil wells is constructed, and the effectiveness of this model is verified. Finally, a field test is carried out with a self-developed sand production signal dynamic time-frequency response software system on 4 wells of an oil production platform in the Bohai Sea. This system can effectively distinguish sand-producing wells from non-sand-producing wells. The dynamic time-frequency response, field test results, and actual laboratory results are consistent, verifying the effectiveness of the method proposed in this paper and further providing a theory for improving the effectiveness of the sand production monitoring method under complex multiphase flow conditions. This study also provides technical guidance for the industrial application of sand production monitoring devices in offshore oil wells.

Development and appraisal of handwash-wastewater treatment system for water recycling as a resilient response to COVID-19

In this work, results from characterization of handwashing wastewater from selected stations in Kampala City, Uganda, revealed that handwashing wastewater did not meet permissible international standards for wastewater discharge to the environment. The ratio of BOD5 to COD of ˂0.5 implied that handwashing wastewater was not amenable to biological treatment processes. Turbidity of ˃50 NTU pointed to the need for a roughing filter prior to slow sand filtration. Subsequently, a handwashing wastewater treatment system consisting of selected particle sizes of silica sand, zeolite, and granular activated carbon as filtration and/or adsorption media was developed and assessed for performance towards amelioration of the physicochemical and biological parameters of the handwashing wastewater. Treated water from the developed wastewater treatment system exhibited a turbidity of 5 NTU, true color of 10 Pt-Co, apparent color of 6 Pt-Co, and TSS of 9mgL-1, translating to removal efficiencies of up to 98.5%, 98.1%, 99.7%, and 96.9%, respectively. The residual total coliforms and E. coli of 1395 and 1180 CFU(100 mL)-1 respectively, were totally eliminated upon disinfection with 0.5 mL NaOCl (3.5% wt/vol) per liter of treated wastewater. The treated water was thus suitable for recycling for handwashing purpose as opposed to letting handwashing wastewater merely go down the drain. This approach provides a resilient response to COVID-19, where communities faced with water scarcity can treat and recycle handwashing wastewater at the point of washing. It thus enables more people to have the opportunity to practice handwashing, abating the high risks of infection, which could otherwise arise.

Axial interaction between anchor chain and sand. Part II: Cyclic loading test

Cyclic axial interaction between anchor chain and sand directly influences the tension variation of mooring line in service. In Part I (Rui et al., 2021a), a series of monotonic loading tests have been conducted, but the cyclic interaction between chain and sand is still unrevealed. This paper developed an element testing database of cyclic chain-sand interaction results. The influences of cyclic amplitude, confining stress, chain nominal diameter, sand particle size and relative density on cyclic interaction were thoroughly investigated. It is found that the axial resistances in post-cyclic loading tests are always higher than the monotonic results. Cyclic amplitude has a significant influence on the chain-sand cyclic interaction. When cyclic displacement is less than half of the chain nominal diameter (db), the axial resistance gradually stabilizes after a few cycles. But when cyclic displacement is larger than db, the axial resistance shows an increasing trend due to the particle breakage, and stabilizes when the sand particle size distribution remains unchanged. A type of adjustment plateau with small constant axial resistance appears between unloading and reloading phases in chain-sand cyclic interaction curves. Stress release behind the chain link due to “soil arching” effect can explain the appearance of adjustment plateau.

Adaptability analysis of operating parameters of hydrate hydrocyclone separator based on a CFD simulation

ABSTRACT Natural Gas Hydrate (NGH) downhole hydrocyclone separator is one of the core components of solid-state fluidized mining method, and its adaptability to NGH reservoir parameters directly determines the success of future commercial NGH mining. In this paper, CFD method is used to study the performance of downhole small-size hydrocyclone separator with classical structure under the condition of NGH solid-state fluidization. In this paper, NGH recovery efficiency, sand removal efficiency and pressure drop are taken as evaluation indexes, and the influences of sand size, inlet sand and NGH volume fraction are studied. The simulation successfully obtained the distribution of each discrete phase in the separator. The separation efficiency and pressure drop of the separator are calculated. It is found that when the inlet sand particle size is too low, both sand removal and NGH recovery efficiency are very poor. As the inlet sand volume fraction increases, the hydrate column gradually disappears and the sand aggregation area eventually exceeds the locus of zero vertical velocity. And as the inlet NGH volume fraction increases, the lip leakage effect increases. This study provides the basis for the use of downhole separators in solid-state fluidized mining process and the design and optimization of related separators.

Characterization of Sand Production for Clayey-Silt Sediments Conditioned to Openhole Gravel-Packing: Experimental Observations

SummaryAs one of the geotechnical risks, sanding has been one of the main constraints for safely and sustainably developing marine natural gas hydrate. In this study, a cylindrical vessel that is packed with the clayey-silt sediment collected from the Shenhu area of the northern South China Sea is used to microscopically observe sand detachment, migration within matrix, invasion to gravel packing, and production for openhole gravel packing. More specifically, by injecting water from the vessel boundary, the seepage and stress-strain field for sediment near the wellbore after hydrate dissociation is simulated, and the sand failure characteristics [i.e., the produced sand volume and particle size distributions (PSDs)] are quantified. The sand failure pattern is found to largely differ from that of a sandstone reservoir, whereas fractures, wormholes, and fluidized channels are successively developed along with a large scale of sand production and inlet pressure variation. Followed is a steady flow state with a stable inlet pressure without noticeable sand failure. Correspondingly, the fracture is induced and propagated by the combinational effort of shear and tensile failure, whereas wormholes and fluidized channels are associated with the liquid dragging force. At the end of each test, foraminifera are found to accumulate near the external side of the gravel-packing region, which is beneficial to sand control. In the meantime, a compact mudcake, as an infiltration medium, is observed outside the gravel-packing layer. The 30/50 mesh gravel packing is able to control grain size up to 30.0 µm in diameter with a median of 5.0 µm, whereas the produced grains account for less than 1.0 vol% of the total sediment. By performing sensitivity analysis on sand production, depressurization shall be conducted at a small rate to not only control sand production, but also to induce flow paths at the early stage. Moreover, the sand production rate associated with fracture development is larger than those of wormholes and fluidized channels. This study focuses on the experimental observations on sand failure patterns, and the theoretical formulations and modeling will be presented and explained in a future work.3

Study for gravel slection and pack operation for oil production well on Song Doc oil field

Sand control by gravel packing is by far the most reliable and effective sand control method and is being used worldwide. One of the most important factor for successful operation is gravel size selection which is suitable with properties of well and particle size of sand from the reservoir, also the operation method needs to be considered during study. Due to the variety of different oilfield, the selections of gravel size and operation method are challenges for petroleum engineer and manager. Oil production wells in Song Doc oil field are producing in Miocene and Oligocene with very high rate of sand production; some of the wells were plugged by sand. Therefore, the study on the selections of gravel size and operation method is needed and important. In this study, theory analyzing was used in order to yield advantage and disadvantage of each gravel packing method and their operation. Based on the operating condition on Song Doc field and the availability of equipment on site, gravel packing method by thru-tubing with vent screen was selected. The coil tubing was chosen as the operation method. This is the best sand control method for the Song Doc oil field with low cost and high effectiveness sand control.

Underwater noise from submarine turbidity currents.

Noise from turbidity currents flowing down the face of a fjord delta was measured underwater at frequencies from 1 to 1200 kHz. The noise spectra are consistent with sound generation by collisions among sand-sized particles. The spectra from the leading head extend to higher frequencies than those from the trailing body, indicating that collisions were between finer-grained particles in the head and coarser-grained particles in the body. Noise intensity increased 100-fold for a two-fold increase in head speed, consistent with the expected collision rate for granular materials in the high-flow gas-like phase and highly turbulent particle-laden flows.

Axial interaction between anchor chain and sand. Part I: Monotonic loading test

For the mooring line embedded in seabed, the axial soil resistance directly affects the tension transfer characteristic along the mooring line. Effective width parameter Et was commonly adopted to assess the axial resistance of anchor chain. However, neither the chain axial resistance nor its effective width parameter in sand has been fully understood. In this two-part paper, a series of axial loading tests between chain and sand were conducted. Part I shows the monotonic loading results, and Part II aims to study the cyclic loading behavior. In Part I, a kind of novel chain-soil interaction apparatus was first developed, and the method for acquiring the axial resistance was proposed. On this basis, the influences of confining stress, chain nominal diameter, sand particle size and relative density were investigated in detail. It is found that when the chain axial resistance is fully mobilized, the effective width parameter in sand ranges from 8.91 to 11.94. The statistical average value Et=10.34 is quite close to the normalized chain perimeter Pc=10.37(3.3π). Then, an example was given to show how to calculate the chain profiles in sand using the proposed Et expression. A method for calculating the chain profile in sands was verified by the centrifuge test results. The calculation results show that higher Et values lead to larger force inclined angles at the padeye. Under the condition, the anchor will suffer larger vertical loads due to the increase of the inclination angle.

CFD Analysis on Francis Turbine to Analyse Erosion Wear Due to Sediment Flow

In present work Computational fluid dynamics analysis based erosion wear prediction is performed for Francis turbine components, especially the runner. For the geometrical parameters, Francis turbine model with steady state condition and viscous flow turbulence SST model using ANSYS Fluent. The erosion effect on all the three component such as spiral casing, runner & draft tube has been studied for different concentration of sand particles from 1% - 6%. For each of those concentration the effect of variation in size has been studied for different sizes 10 ?m - 80 ?m. Further the effect of total erosion was also analyzed for different particle size. Erosion damage is found close to the upper and lower portions of the leading edge of the stay vane. some erosion spots at guide vane on the blade pressure side where suction side has minimum erosion. Maximum erosion damage observed on runner especially at the middle of the blade. The draft tube situated closer to runner having highest velocity due to high absolute velocity of water coming out from the runner does not produce any serious erosion effect. Results shows that erosion rate is maximum on runner at particle size 80 ?m for all sand concentration 1% to 6% and minimum at 30 ?m. Thus, 30 ?m is the optimum size of sand particles for the erosion.

Vertical migration of microplastics in porous media: Multiple controlling factors under wet-dry cycling

Terrestrial soils are not only a large reservoir for Microplastics (MPs), but also a possible entrance to the subsurface environment, posing potential risks to the subterranean habitats and groundwater. In this study, we examined the vertical transport of MPs of four polymers, i.e., polyethylene (PE), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polypropylene (PP) and polyamide (PA), in porous sand media driven by wet-dry cycling. The effects of polymer properties, MP size, sand particle size, wet-dry cycles, and dissolved organic matter (DOM) on their migration behavior were investigated. Surface hydrophobicity showed a strong positive correlation with MP mobility, with PA exhibiting the greatest movement potential, followed by PE, PET, and PP. The penetration depth of MP particles increased with decreasing MP particle size (dMP) and increasing sand diameter (dsand). MP particles migrated deeper in sand media when dMP/dsand < 0.11. Furthermore, frequent wet-dry cycles and the presence of DOM promoted the vertical migration of MPs in the sand. The results revealed multiple factors influencing the vertical migration of MPs in sand, which is instructive for understanding the ecological risk of MPs in potentially contaminated soil (e.g., farmland with long-term mulching) to the subsurface environment and potential negative impact to public health.