title: Analysis of wind-blown sand movement over transverse dunes.
abstract: Wind-blown sand movement often occurs in a very complicated desert environment where sand dunes and ripples are the basic forms. However, most current studies on the theoretic and numerical models of wind-blown sand movement only consider ideal conditions such as steady wind velocity, flat sand surface, etc. In fact, the windward slope gradient plays a great role in the lift-off and sand particle saltation. In this paper, we propose a numerical model for the coupling effect between wind flow and saltating sand particles to simulate wind-blown sand movement over the slope surface and use the SIMPLE algorithm to calculate wind flow and simulate sands transport by tracking sand particle trajectories. We furthermore compare the result of numerical simulation with wind tunnel experiments. These results prove that sand particles have obvious effect on wind flow, especially that over the leeward slope. This study is a preliminary study on windblown sand movement in a complex terrain, and is of significance in the control of dust storms and land desertification.
authors.affiliation: 1] Key Laboratory of Mechanics on Disaster and Environment in Western China, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China [2] Laboratoire de Mécanique des Fluides et d'Acoustique, Ecole Centrale de Lyon, Ecully 69130, France.
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Mechanics on Disaster and Environment in Western China, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China.
authors.forename: Ning
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Research and Development Center, Aviation Industry Corporation of China Shaanxi Aircraft Industry (Group) Corporation Limited, Hanzhong 723009, China.
authors.forename: Yuanjian
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhu