The blown sand flux over a sandy surface: a wind tunnel investigation on the fetch effect

Detailed wind tunnel tests were conducted to examine the fetch effect of a sandy surface on a sand cloud blowing over it. The results suggest that the fetch length of a sandy surface has a significant effect on both the vertical flux profile and total horizontal flux. The sand flux over a sandy surface increases with height in the very near surface layer, but then decays exponentially. In agreement with the widely accepted conclusion, the decay function can be expressed by q=aexp(−h/b), where q is the sand flux at height h. Coefficient a that tends to increase with wind speed implies the influence of wind, while coefficient b that defines the relative decay rate shows the influence of both the fetch and wind. The relative decay rate increases with fetch when the fetch length is short, then becomes constant when the fetch reaches a certain length. The threshold fetch length over which the relative decay rate keeps constant increases with wind speed. The average saltation height generally increases with fetch. Both the relative decay rate and average saltation height show that the fetch effect on the flux profile becomes more significant when the wind speed increases. The total sand transport equation for the total fetch can be expressed by Q=C(1−U_t/U)²U³(ρ/g), where Q is the total sand transport rate, U and U_t are the wind velocity and threshold wind velocity at the centerline height of the wind tunnel, respectively, g is gravitational acceleration, ρ is the density of air, and C is a proportionality coefficient that increases with the fetch length, implying that the total sand flux increases with the fetch length.