Two-phase measurements of wind and saltating sand in an atmospheric boundary layer

Wind-blown sand movement is a particle-laden two-phase flow related to wind erosion in which the velocity distributions of both wind and sand are of particular interest. In the present study, two types of natural sand, one collected from the Pohang beach (diameter d = 200–300 μm) in South Korea and the other from the Taklimakan desert (d = 100–125 μm) in China, were tested in a simulated atmospheric boundary layer. A high-speed digital camera system was used to capture images of the saltating sand particles at 2000 fps with an exposure time of 1/3000 s. Instantaneous velocity fields of the saltating sand particles were obtained using a particle tracking velocimetry (PTV) method. From these data, the particle resultant velocity, volume concentration, and streamwise mass flux were estimated as a function of height. The results reveal that the resultant particle velocity has an approximate log-linear profile with vertical height. Both the particle concentration and streamwise mass flux decay dramatically in the near surface region (z < 20 mm for the beach sand, and z < 15 mm for the desert sand), then decline mildly beyond this region. To investigate the modification of the surrounding wind by the saltating sand particles, a hot-wire anemometry with a robust hot-film probe was employed to measure the wind velocity profiles with and without saltation. The present experimental data on both the saltating sand and wind provide useful information that enhances our understanding of saltation transport and further development of control techniques of wind erosion.