A wind tunnel study of wind erosion and profile reshaping of transverse sand piles in tandem

The deformation over time, as a result of wind erosion, is presented for a single transverse sand pile and also for two sand piles placed in tandem. The maximum slope of the two pile geometries studied here is 27° (length/height = 6), and 32° (length/height = 5), respectively. The initial contour of each pile is described by a sinusoidal curve, and all of them have the same initial height.The experimental results were obtained from wind tunnel tests, for two selected wind speeds. Several tests were conducted for each situation in order to obtain the mean longitudinal profile of the pile(s) at several time instants, and to characterize the dispersion range of the results. It is shown that the first pile has a strong effect on the downwind one, and also vice versa although to a much lesser degree. In particular, the experimental results indicate that, for the lowest test velocity, while the first pile remains uneroded the leeward one is severely eroded due to the recirculation bubble between both piles.

► The aeolian erosion of single or transverse sinusoidal dunes in tandem is studied.
► The study consists of wind tunnel experiments, conducted for two wind speeds.
► The time deformation of the sand dunes is shown for several configurations.
► Results include the evolution of the mean profile and of the dispersion range.