This paper reviews some aspects of wind tunnel experiments on sand‐transporting winds. It follows previous papers that have discussed the influence of the outer region of the boundary layer on wind velocity measurements. This influence was quantified with the use Coles’Wake function. In this paper this correction is applied to six previously described wind velocity profiles. An attempt is made to calculate the profile parameter II from these measurements. The values found were not consistent with the expected II, which was determined by Coles for clean air flow. This value (II=0.55) was assumed to be valid in previous analyses for sand‐transporting winds. Evidence for a mutual dependency of friction velocity and profile parameter is presented and the difficulty in determining u. is pointed out. It is suggested that the constant stress region of the boundary layer should be kept large enough for measurements when Coles’Wake function is not to be used in the data analysis.

One-dimensional simulations of the unsteady saltation process show that the transport rate's response depends on the amplitude and frequency of the wind fluctuations. At frequencies higher than f % 0Á5 Hz the transport rate was found not to respond to the wind changes. The initial overshoot reported by previous investigators was found not to appear for simulation heights smaller than 50 to 60 cm. This is due to the fast propagation of the grains' influence upward in the flow and the immediate deceleration of the wind. Confirmation of these findings comes from reports of experiments conducted in wind tunnels of different sizes.Further test calculations show that the discretization time step size Át has an influence on the model's temporal behaviour. The reason for this is the better coupling of the wind±sand system when a smaller Át is used. The implications of bed area choice on the statistical accuracy of predicted transport rate is also demonstrated. In the one-dimensional case the grain cloud's total forward momentum equals transport rate, which is independent of model geometry.

One‐dimensional simulations of the unsteady saltation process show that the transport rate's response depends on the amplitude and frequency of the wind fluctuations. At frequencies higher than f ≈ 0·5 Hz the transport rate was found not to respond to the wind changes. The initial overshoot reported by previous investigators was found not to appear for simulation heights smaller than 50 to 60 cm. This is due to the fast propagation of the grains' influence upward in the flow and the immediate deceleration of the wind. Confirmation of these findings comes from reports of experiments conducted in wind tunnels of different sizes. Further test calculations show that the discretization time step size Δt has an influence on the model's temporal behaviour. The reason for this is the better coupling of the wind–sand system when a smaller Δt is used. The implications of bed area choice on the statistical accuracy of predicted transport rate is also demonstrated. In the one‐dimensional case the grain cloud's total forward momentum equals transport rate, which is independent of model geometry. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

A two-dimensional numerical model of the saltation process was developed on a parallel computer in order to investigate the temporal behaviour of transport rate as well as its downwind distribution. Results show that the effects of unsteady flow on the transportation of particulates (sediment) have to be considered in two spatial dimensions (x, y).Transport rate Q(x, t) appears in the transport equation for mass M(x, t):where A = ÁxW denotes unit area composed of unit streamwise length Áx and width W. S(x, t) (units kg m À2 s À1 ) stands for the balance over the splash process. A transport equation for transport rate itselfis suggested with U c (x, t) a mean particle velocity at location x as the characteristic velocity of the grain cloud. For a steadily blowing wind over a 50 m long sediment bed it was found that downwind changes in Q cease after roughly 10±40 m, depending on the strength of the wind. The onset of stationarity (d/dt = 0) was found to be a function of the friction velocity and location. The local equilibrium between transport rate and wind was obtained at different times for different downstream locations. Two time scales were found. One fast response (in the order of 1) to incipient wind and a longer time for equilibrium to be reached throughout the simulation length. Transport rate also has different equilibrium values at different locations.A series of numerical experiments was conducted to determine a propagation speed of the grain cloud. It was found that this velocity relates linearly to friction velocity.

No abstract