Modelling transverse dunes

Transverse dunes appear in regions of mainly unidirectional wind and high sand availability. A dune model is extended to two‐dimensional calculation of the shear stress. It is applied to simulate dynamics and morphology of three‐dimensional transverse dunes. In the simulations they seem to reach translational invariance and do not stop growing. Hence, simulations of two‐dimensional dune ?elds have been performed. Characteristic laws were found for the time evolution of transverse dunes. Bagnold's law of the dune velocity is modi?ed and reproduced. The interaction between transverse dunes led to the interesting conclusion that small dunes can travel over bigger ones. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

基于多旋翼无人机倾斜摄影测量的沙丘三维形态研究

无人机倾斜摄影技术是近年来发展起来的新型测量方法,具有高效率、高精度、非接触、大范围等优点。本研究采用多旋翼无人机,结合精确测定的地面控制点,实现了对新月形沙丘群三维形态的精确测量。结果表明：无人机倾斜摄影测量的均方根误差小于18 mm,可以满足大比例尺地形测量的要求。利用该技术获取的多种测量参数表明,新月形沙丘二维与三维形态之间存在良好的相关性,基于这些关系,可以实现二维遥感影像量测结果向沙丘高度、沙丘体积等三维参数的转换。沙丘剖面形态可以采用非线性函数精确描述,为沙丘形态精确建模提供了参考。无人机倾斜摄影技术获取的沙丘三维形态参数,对于深入认识沙丘形态动力过程具有重要参考价值。     

新月形沙丘迎风坡形态及沉积物对表面气流的响应

对孤立新月形沙丘迎风坡风速的野外实测和计算表明,沙丘迎风坡表面风速廓线呈非对数关系,近地面剪切风速和输沙强度由坡脚至丘顶总体呈递增趋势,但同时随断面坡度的增减而发生相应的变化;沿断面输沙率的变化导致蚀积强度的改变,表现为沙丘迎风坡坡度变缓的部位沉积大于侵蚀,其它部位侵蚀大于沉积,其中丘顶输沙率和侵蚀强度最大。在沙丘形态上,表现为坡度减缓的部位沉积变凸、其它部位因侵蚀变凹以及坡脚和丘顶的前移。变凸和变凹部位反过来又制约着表面剪切风速的相应变化。粒度分析也表明,沙丘迎风坡表面粒度特征主要取决于表面蚀积状况,同断面形态表现出密切的相关性。     

The control of wind strength on the barchan to parabolic dune transition

The evolution of barchan-to-parabolic dunes can be driven by vegetation establishment, which may be linked to climate change and/or human activity. However, little is known of the impact of changes in wind strength on vegetation development and the resulting impacts on the evolution of dune morphology and sedimentological characteristics. To address this issue, we studied the morphology and grain-size characteristics of barchan, barchan-to-parabolic and parabolic dunes in the Mu Us Desert in north China, which was combined with an analysis of changes in normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and climatic variables during 1982–2018. The results reveal a trend of increasing growing-season NDVI which was related to a significant decrease in drift potential (DP). Therefore, we suggest that the initiation of dune transformation was caused by the reduced wind strength which favored the establishment and development of vegetation. To reveal the response of sedimentological reorganization during the processes of dune transformation, grain-size characteristics along the longitudinal profile of the three different types of dunes were examined. The decreasing wind strength led to the transport of fine sands on the upper part of the windward face of the dunes, resulting in a progressive coarsening of the grain-size distribution (GSD) and a reduction in dune height at the crest area. No distinct trend in sorting and mean grain-size was observed on the windward slope of the barchan-to-parabolic dune, indicating that the sand in transit had little influence on the GSD. Conversely, progressive sorting and coarsening of the sand occurred towards the crest of the parabolic dune. This indicates that vegetation development limited the transport of sand from upwind of the dune, and affected a shift in the dune source material to the underlying source deposits, or to reworked pre-existing aeolian deposits, and resulted in the trapping of sand in the crest area. © 2020 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

新月形沙丘表面100cm高度内风沙流输沙量垂直分布函数分段拟合

为研究新月形沙丘表面不同层位风沙流输沙量的垂直分布函数,实测了塔克拉玛干沙漠腹地典型新月形沙丘表面100 cm高度内(以1 cm分隔)的输沙量。分段拟合分析表明:新月形沙丘迎风坡脚输沙量垂直分布规律不完全服从指数函数,出现与戈壁风沙流结构特征相似的"象鼻效应",在0~3 cm区间内输沙量逐渐增大,3cm以上输沙量随高度呈指数函数衰减;沙丘顶部0~10 cm区间输沙量随高度呈指数函数衰减,10 cm以上呈二次函数衰减;沙丘左翼端输沙量随高度呈幂函数分布,沙丘右翼端0~20 cm内以指数函数衰减,20 cm以上呈三次函数衰减;沙丘背风坡脚风沙流输沙量在0~60 cm和60 cm以上分别呈不同形式的三次函数分布。     

新月形沙丘迎风坡气流加速模拟

迎风坡气流加速是决定新月形沙丘发育和形态的动力因子，研究这一加速过程的定量关系有利于认识沙丘的发育、沙丘的形态、沙丘的运动等。通过大量的野外实测数据和前人的理论分析，得出沙丘迎风坡气流加速量主要和沙丘坡度、迎风坡前来流风速以及沙丘高度有关，并建立了新月形沙丘迎风坡气流加速和沙丘形态特征的定量关系。根据这一关系得了在风力较强的风沙环境中，沙丘坡度较小；在风力较弱的风沙环境中，沙丘坡度较陡。地表粗糙度越大，迎风坡坡度越陡。沙丘地貌发育高度存在一上限，这一上限与边界层厚度有关。     

A distribution‐free statistical method for the spatial characterization of dune granulometry: an example from the Strzelecki Desert,South Australia

Distribution‐free statistical methods of comparative data analysis have identi?ed subtle granulometric differences attributed to the evolution of barchan form at Gurra‐Gurra waterhole. Geomorphic locations on the barchan dunes display statistically signi?cant grain‐size differences that assist in the interpretation of aeolian processes. In summer, very ?ne sands mantle the dunescape and are the fraction that most affects the parameters of sorting and skewness. The sur?cial sedimentological character is one of subtle contrasts between the processes of grain winnowing and intergranular protection. The second and third moment measures are parameters that best demonstrate the spatial granulometric differences. Dune‐forming processes at Gurra‐Gurra have produced dune sands that have a very narrow range of grain size, which, in turn, re?ects textural and mineralogical maturity, and hence an extensive transport history. The statistical techniques employed in this study can also be used for the comparison of temporal (seasonal) sedimentological change, and for the granulometric analysis and association of process for dunes of different morpho‐types. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Simulating study on barchan dune

ＳＩＭＵＬＡＴＩＮＧＳＴＵＤＹＯＮＢＡＲＣＨＡＮＤＵＮＥ①ＬｉｎｇＹｕｑｕａｎ（凌裕泉）１ＷｕＺｈｅｎｇ（吴正）２ＬｉｕＳｈａｏｚｈｏｎｇ（刘绍中）３ＬｉＣｈａｎｇｚｈｉ（李长治）１１ＩｎｓｔｉｔｕｔｅｏｆＤｅｓｅｒｔＲｅｓｅａｒｃｈ,ｔｈｅＣｈｉｎ...     

Estimating the windward slope profile of a barchan dune

A new theoretical scheme is presented to model the shape of a sand dune at equilibrium that does not require iterative calculations of the interaction between the wind flow and topography. The model is constructed by incorporating theory based on aerodynamics into a grain‐scale model that estimates the shear velocity at the dune crest through the calculation of the sand trapping efficiency of the slipface in the lee of the dune. Published field data, collected in southern Peru, California and southern Morocco, show that as a dune becomes higher the windward slope becomes steeper. For the model proposed, the wind flow over a dune was first assumed to be similar to that over a Gaussian hill. By further assuming a fixed shear velocity on the level surface, the windward slope angle and migration speed of dunes in southern Peru can be explained. To comply with all available data, some aspects are still open to further investigation. However the theoretical insight presented herein implies that the upper limit of dune height may be greater in windier environments.     

A field study of mean and turbulent flow characteristics upwind,over and downwind of barchan dunes

Field‐measured patterns of mean velocity and turbulent airflow are reported for isolated barchan dunes. Turbulence was sampled using a high frequency sonic anemometer, deriving near‐surface Reynolds shear and normal stresses. Measurements upwind of and over a crest‐brink separated barchan indicated that shear stress was sustained despite a velocity reduction at the dune toe. The mapped streamline angles and enhanced turbulent intensities suggest the effects of positive streamline curvature are responsible for this maintenance of shear stress. This field evidence supports an existing model for dune morphodynamics based on wind tunnel turbulence measurements. Downwind, the effect of different dune profiles on flow re‐attachment and recovery was apparent. With transverse incident flow, a re‐attachment length between 2·3 and 5·0h (h is dune brink height) existed for a crest‐brink separated dune and 6·5 to 8·6h for a crest‐brink coincident dune. The lee side shear layer produced elevated turbulent stresses immediately downwind of both dunes, and a decrease in turbulence with distance characterized flow recovery. Recovery of mean velocity for the crest‐brink separated dune occurred over a distance 6·5h shorter than the crest‐brink coincident form. As the application of sonic anemometers in aeolian geomorphology is relatively new, there is debate concerning the suitability of processing their data in relation to dune surface and streamline angle. This paper demonstrates the effect on Reynolds stresses of mathematically correcting data to the local streamline over varying dune slope. Where the streamline angle was closely related to the surface (windward slope), time‐averaged shear stress agreed best with previous wind tunnel findings when data were rotated along streamlines. In the close lee, however, the angle of downwardly projected (separated) flow was not aligned with the flat ground surface. Here, shear stress appeared to be underestimated by streamline correction, and corrected shear stress values were less than half of those uncorrected. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.