Eur. Phys. J. E (2020) 43: 3
https://doi.org/10.1140/epje/i2020-11928-1

Regular Article

A numerical investigation on the unidirectional unsteady oscillatory wind flow over a fixed isolated downsized barchan dune

School of Chemical Engineering, Northwest University, 710069, Xi’an, China

^* e-mail: xiaosizhou@nwu.edu.cn
^** e-mail: binyang@nwu.edu.cn

Received: 29 August 2019
Accepted: 7 January 2020
Published online: 21 January 2020

Abstract

Turbulent wind patterns over a two-dimensional isolated downsized barchan dune under the influence of sinusoidal inflow with different amplitudes and periods are simulated. The evolution rules of wind velocity over time at different positions are revealed. The flow reattachment distance and turbulence intensity distribution are also compared. The results show that wind velocities at different positions of the dune whose similar evolvement process of going from short-term fast adjustment transition to long-term stable sinusoidal fluctuation, can be reasonably estimated by the present simulation. It is found that, for the leeward toe of a dune with complex reversed flow, the balance position value of the sinusoidal wind velocity fluctuation is no longer close to the value of the steady wind velocity but shows a velocity deviation of about 0.40m/s. The flow reattachment distances under different unsteady inflows ultimately show a sinusoidal fluctuation with time, and their values are all larger than that of the steady flow. These synthetically predict that the unsteady flow has a stronger shaping effect on the leeward side of the dune body by enhancing sand transport. In addition, the predicted distribution comparison between unsteady wind velocity and turbulence intensity indicates that the unsteady wind velocity has a dominant effect on the turbulence intensity.