Sampling efficiency of vertical array aeolian sand traps

Previous investigations have indicated that the sampling efficiency of aeolian sand traps is low and varies greatly in the near-bed region. Outside this region, the efficiency tends to be consistently higher for all types of trap. An evaluation was carried out to compare the sampling efficiency of different types of aeolian sand trap based on the comparison of the “actual” and the measured sand mass flux profiles, with emphasis on the single-tube vertical array trap, conventional array trap, and step-like array trap. A simple formula is proposed to express the actual vertical profile of sand mass flux, which has been validated with the unique data obtained with an isokinetic trap by Sedimentology 45 (1998) 789]. Using the experimental data collected by the present authors and those by other investigators, sampling efficiencies of three types of trap are examined in terms of the frequency distribution of all the samples. For the single-tube traps, the sampling efficiency varies from 65% to 95%, with a mode at 75%. For both the conventional array and step-like array traps, sampling efficiencies range from 15% to 85%, with the modal frequencies at 35% and 75%, respectively. This review seems to suggest that the peak frequency with higher sampling efficiency coincides with the maximum sand-grain Reynolds number.