Related papers: A simple model for a transverse dune field
We investigate flow separation in the air flow over transverse sand dunes. CFD simulations of the air flow over differently shaped dunes are performed. The length of the recirculation region after the brink of the dune is found to depend…
We present a minimal model for the formation and migration of aeolian sand dunes. It combines a perturbative description of the turbulent wind velocity field above the dune with a continuum saltation model that allows for saturation…
We present a model to describe the collective motion of barchan dunes in a field. Our model is able to reproduce the observation that a typical dune stays confined within a stripe. We also obtain some of the pattern structures which…
Wind-blown sand dunes are both a consequence and a driver of climate dynamics; they arise under persistently dry and windy conditions, and are sometimes a source for airborne dust. Dune fields experience extreme daily changes in…
Modern dune fields are valuable sources of information for the large-scale analysis of terrestrial and planetary environments and atmospheres, but their study relies on understanding the small-scale dynamics that constantly generate new…
Early-stage bedforms develop into mature dunes through complex interactions between wind, sand transport and surface topography. Depending on varying environmental and wind conditions, the mechanism driving dune formation and, ultimately,…
Aeolian transport in coastal areas can be significantly affected by the presence of an exposed water table. In some dune fields, such as in Len\c{c}\'ois Maranhenses, northeastern Brazil, the water table oscillates in response to seasonal…
Crescent shaped barchan dunes are highly mobile dunes that are usually presented as a prototypical model of sand dunes. Although they have been theoretically shown to be unstable when considered separately, it is well known that they form…
We propose a minimal model for aeolian sand dunes. It combines an analytical description of the turbulent wind velocity field above the dune with a continuum saltation model that allows for saturation transients in the sand flux. The model…
We use FLUENT to calculate the wind profile over barchans and transverse dunes. The form of the streamlines of flow separation at the lee side of the dunes is determined for a symmetric barchan dune in three dimensions, and for the height…
Barchan dunes emerge as a collective phenomena involving the generation of thousands of them in so called barchan dune fields. By measuring the size and position of dunes in Moroccan barchan dune fields, we find that these dunes tend to…
We observed time evolution of dune fields in a water tank experiment and simulated it by using a simple model without taking complex fluid dynamics into account. The initial sand bed changed its form into transverse ripples, that is, dunes…
Compared to barchan dunes, the morphodynamics of linear dunes that elongate on a non-erodible bed is barely investigated by means of laboratory experiments or numerical simulations. Using a cellular automaton model, we study the elongation…
Sand dunes are ubiquitous in nature, and are found in abundance on Earth and other planetary environments. One of the most common types are crescent-shaped dunes known as barchans, whose mid-line could be assumed to behave as 2D dunes. In…
Barchans are crescent-shaped sand dunes forming in aride regions with unidirectional wind and limited sand supply. We report analytical and numerical results for dune shapes under different environmental conditions as obtained from the…
Most terrestrial sand seas form at `horse' latitudes, where the wind direction exhibits seasonal variation. Here, we extend the two-dimensional linear stability analysis of a flat sand bed associated with a unidirectional wind to the…
The spatio-temporal evolution of a downsized model for a desert dune is observed experimentally in a narrow water flow channel. A particle tracking method reveals that the migration speed of the model dune is one order of magnitude smaller…
Almost fifty years of investigations of barchan dunes morphology and dynamics is reviewed, with emphasis on the physical understanding of these objects. The characteristics measured on the field (shape, size, velocity) and the physical…
Aeolian sand dunes originate from wind flow and sand bed interactions. According to wind properties and sand availability, they can adopt different shapes, ranging from huge motion-less star dunes to small and mobile barchan dunes. The…
Desert surfaces are typically non uniform, with individual sand dunes generally surrounded by gravel or non-erodible beds. Similarly, beaches vary in composition and moisture that enhances cohesion between the grains. These bed…