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- Title
Numerical simulation of sand dune erosion.
- Authors
Lopes, A.; Oliveira, L.; Ferreira, Almerindo; Pinto, J.
- Abstract
Erosion of sand or other granular material is a subject of utmost importance in several fields of practical interest, including industrial processes or environmental issues. Resulting from intricate interaction between the incident flow field and localized body forces responsible for the granular material cohesion, erosion is a particularly complex phenomenon. The present work addresses this problem, proposing a numerical method to compute the time evolution of a sand dune subjected to aeolian erosion, along with the associated entrainment and deposition fluxes. Turbulent fluid flow is computed through a three-dimensional Navier-Stokes solver based on a generalized coordinate system. A Lagrangian approach is adopted for tracking the trajectories of particles entrained in the saltation regime, thus allowing prediction of the corresponding deposition locations. Different models for saltation fluxes are tested, along with several formulations for the creeping-to-saltation flux ratio, creeping threshold and creeping distance. Comparison with results from wind tunnel experiments is very encouraging, stressing the relative importance of creeping in the erosion process for the presently studied conditions.
- Subjects
SAND dunes; EROSION; GRANULAR materials; SIMULATION methods &; models; SEDIMENTATION &; deposition; TURBULENCE; EDDY flux; TESTING of wind tunnels
- Publication
Environmental Fluid Mechanics, 2013, Vol 13, Issue 2, p145
- ISSN
1567-7419
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1007/s10652-012-9263-2