23rd International Symposium on Transport Phenomena
Auckland, New Zealand
1922 November 2012
Experimental Study on the Critical Friction Velocity for Wind-brown Sand
with High-speed Visualization and PIV Measurement
K. Sugiyama, K. Otakeguchi, F.S. Yang, T. Tsukahara, and Y. Kawaguchi
1
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Tokyo University of Science, Yamazaki 2641, Noda, Chiba 278-8510, Japan
Abstract
Transport phenomena of dispersible solid particles in the air
by turbulence are encountered in various situations. In order to
obtain an empirical equation for the critical friction velocity as a
function of important parameters relating to the wind-blown sand,
we performed observation experiments on movements of each
particle using a high-speed camera and an argon laser, and
obtained turbulence statistics by PIV (particle image velocimetry).
The critical friction velocity was conventionally predicted based
on the density and the diameter of sand grains. In addition to
those particle parameters, we have quantitatively considered the
dependency on the turbulence intensity of turbulent boundary
layers.
Nomenclature
dp nominal mean particle diameter
g gravitational acceleration
Hb height of roughness block
Re Reynolds number
Tu turbulence intensity averaged in boundary layer
U main-stream velocity
URMS turbulent intensity (root-mean-square of streamwise
velocity fluctuation)
Uct critical friction velocity
boundary layer thickness
displacement thickness
g gas (air) density
p particle density
Introduction
Transport phenomena of dispersible solid particles in the air
by turbulence are encountered in various situations, such as sand
erosion, yellow sand, dust storm, and pulverized coal storage. For
the aim to avoid/control scattering of particles from sand bed, the
critical friction velocity is one of the important parameters
relating to the physics of the wind-blown sand movement.
The wind moves the sand particles in one, or a combination,
of three ways: suspension, saltation, or creep. The saltation is a
movement such that sand particle jump to another place in a short
time. This is the most important process in the formation
dynamics of a ripple and other sand features. The suspension is a
flight dynamics of a very fine grain. The surface creep is the
rolling process on the sand bed. These types of sand movement
are conventionally determined by the diameter of sand particles
and flow field conditions [1].
The criteria in terms of a minimum friction velocity to induce
the particle saltation would be defined in two different ways [2-
3]: one is as the pickup velocity, at which a particle at rest begins
to move as the mainstream velocity increases gradually; the other
is the saltation velocity, at which flying particles in the motion of
saltation come to rest as the mainstream velocity decreases. In
this study, we focus attention on the threshold value of the pickup
(friction) velocity for the saltation. As reported by Bagnold [1],
the threshold value of the pickup velocity is known to depend on
the size of particles. For large particles of dp > 50 m, the
threshold increases with the increase of particles size. On the
other hand, higher speed velocity is needed for smaller particles
than 0.08 mm to be in the saltation. This is because some
cohesive forces (such as inter-particle electrostatic force, van der
Waals attraction, and capillary force) between particles [2,4].
One of general procedures to determine the critical friction
velocity is, for instance, the manner described following.
Cabrejos & Klinzing [2,3] conducted experiments in a circular
pipe, in which a layer of sand bed was eroded by the air stream
while the average velocity was higher than the critical velocity.
As the thickness of the sand-bed layer reduced gradually during
the running, the air velocity decelerated and hardly transported
much sand particles. Then they estimated the critical velocity
from the air speed at which the particles would be static. Kalman
[5] measured the flux of wind-blown sand using the wind tunnel
of a rectangular cross section and estimated the critical velocity
in the same way with Cabrejos & Klinzing. These measurements
of the threshold value can be regarded as an indirect method.
In this study, we carefully (and directly) observed movements
of each saltation particle using a high-speed camera and an argon
laser. The critical friction velocity has been predicted as the
function of several parameters, such as, the density and the
diameter of particles. Furthermore, we here have considered the
turbulence on the sand bed. To discuss the influence of character
of turbulence on the critical friction velocity, we changed
arbitrarily the magnitude of the turbulent intensity in the
boundary layer by roughness blocks composed of short square
pillars.
Outline of experiments
Wind Tunnel
Our experiments were conducted by using a rectangular wind
tunnel with a test section of dimensions 0.25 m 0.25 m. The
experimental setup is depicted in Figure 1. The developing
section with 1000 mm length in the streamwise length was set
after the blower and rectification part, while the test section was
of 3000 mm long. The upper wind-tunnel surface of each section
was movable, so that the mean pressure gradient was kept at zero
throughout the wind tunnel. The measurement (or visualization)
area was positioned at 1250 mm downstream (from the entrance
of the test section), where the particle source, i.e., sand bed, was
set up. To avoid disturbance into the flow field, the surface of the
particle source was initially parallel to the bottom floor.
The maximum nominal air velocity, i.e., the air speed outside
the boundary layer, in the wind tunnel is 20 m/s and its minimum
relative turbulent intensity is 0.05%. As our preliminary work
[6,7], we investigated the wind-speed threshold for sand
movement on a sand dune using the same wind tunnel, changing
the mainstream velocity from U = 5.1 m/s to 8.5 m/s during the
experiment. They reported that erosion of sand bed would occur
at U = 7.1 m/s; when the wind was as low as 5.1 m/s, no sand
movement would take place; for 8.5 m/s, strong erosion was
induced on every place around the dune. These situations are
consistent with a field measurement by Mikami et al. [8]. They
presented a threshold wind velocity of 7.5 m/s in the Taklimakan
Desert, where serious environmental damage are induced by the
wind-blown sand movements. In the present work, the tested air-
phase velocity of the mainstream ranged between U = 5 and 9
m/s and this magnitude was comparable to the actual situation.
Figure 1. Schematic representation of experimental set up used
for visualization to investigate the critical friction velocity.
Roughness to Modulate Turbulence Intensity
In the developing section, regularly-spaced roughness blocks
were installed on the bottom surface to induce a rapid growth of
turbulent boundary layer. We tested two types of roughness with
different heights and block patterns, as shown in Figure 2. Cubic
blocks of 10 mm side were regularly distributed with a pitch of
45 mm (Case 1), while higher cuboidal blocks were used with a
rather sparse array in the other case (Case 2). As described later,
more developed turbulent boundary layer with high turbulence
intensity was found in the case of the higher-block array, Case 2.
It might be suggested that the height Hb of the roughness block is
a dominant parameter to determine the turbulence intensity at the
measurement area (far downstream of the developing section).
Case1 Case2
45 mm
Air 45 mm Air
z z
x x
Developing section Developing section
Figure 2. Alignment of roughness blocks. Each block has a
constant height of 10 mm (in Case 1) or of 40 mm (in Case 2).
Since a major focus in this study is placed on the proposal of
a relational expression between the turbulent-flow characteristics
and the critical friction velocity. By performing experiments on
the two different air-phase conditions in terms of the turbulence
intensity, we would consider the dependence of U ct on the
turbulent flow as well as the sand-particle characteristics.
Test Particles and Measurement Methodology
Experiments to determine the critical friction velocity were
carried out with several materials as sand particles (see Table1).
Three different nominal diameter of silica sand were tested: they
have the practically-same density p and are basically of non-
spherical grains. Their non-uniform sizes and shapes of each
particle resulted in a wide distribution of particle size: the root-
mean-square of diameter is also shown in Table 1. For instance,
Sand#7 has averagely large sand grains.
To investigate the dependency on the particle density, we
employed two kinds of glass beads that have more uniformed
particle size and spherical shape, but with different densities. In
the case labelled as Glass-H, the particles possessed a density
larger by more than 60% compared to the other test particles. The
density of Glass-L was comparable to the silica sand.
RMS of
Particle dp (m) p (kg/m3)
diameter (m)
Sand#7 292 2.59103 96.8
Silica
Sand#8 159 2.59103 98.2
sand
Sand#9 50.4 2.56103 45.3
Glass Glass-L 111 2.50103 20.5
beads Glass-H 108 4.20103 14.3
Table 1. Material characteristic of particles.
The sand bed as a particle-source area was irradiated by the
argon laser sheet (2.53.0 W) from the upper side, and sand
particle would be visualized. The spread angle of laser sheet was
set at 20 and its thickness was about 1 mm. Reflection of flying
particles was taken by high-speed camera that was set on side of
the wind tunnel. The frame rate was chosen at 500 fps with a
shutter speed of 1/1500 sec. In the experiments, each saltating
particle from the sand bed was detected with increasing the wind
velocity gradually. By adopting such a visualization to detect the
start of sand movement and measure the critical friction velocity
directly rather than an indirect measurement in terms of blown-
sand flux, we were enabled to extract only the saltation so that
the critical friction velocity for particle to fly from the sand bed
would be determined without confusing rolling particles.
After the visualization experiments, we separately measured
wall-normal distributions of the mean streamwise velocity and of
the turbulent intensity for the single-phase air flow under the
condition of the critical state (that means the friction velocity was
equal to the critical value), using PIV. We used an Nd:YAG laser
and a CCD camera with a resolution of 2048 2 pixels. For more
180 mm details regarding the PIV system, one can refer to our previous
paper [6]. The position to measure the statistics is the same with
that for the above visualization, namely, at 1250 mm, and an
45 mm observation area was 110 mm 110 mm in which 127 127
velocity vectors were obtained. The statistical result presented
here are the data averaged in the streamwise direction with
respect to the observation area. Note that we assumed that the
streamwise variation of statistics due to the boundary layer
development would be sufficiently small to be neglected. The
present Reynolds number based the momentum thickness were
ranged in Re
Result and Discussion
Turbulence Intensity
Although it is intuitively reasonable to presuppose that the
critical friction velocity should be influenced by flow condition
only near the sand-bed surface, we adopted an integral quantity
defined by equation (1) as an indicator of magnitude of the
turbulence contribution. This is because the turbulence intensity
becomes zero asymptotically, since the non-slip condition is
basically assumed on the wall surface. In this study, we chose the
streamwise turbulence intensity for a turbulence statistic that
dominantly would affect on the particle saltation.
 Case 1 and Case 2. For Case 2, where Tu/U is large, the critical
(1) friction velocities of each particle can be clearly seen to be lower
than those for Case1. The difference in the results between Case
It is worthwhile at the outset to observe the dependences of Tu on 1 and Case 2 as well as deviations from the empirical correlations
the mainstream velocity and the roughness-block patterns. should imply the necessity of consideration of different turbulent
background flows.
Obtained values of Tu at given experimental conditions (Hb and
U) are presented in Figure 3. The discrete data plotted in the 0.4
graph were those obtained at the air-phase flow attaining the Case1 (Tu/U=0.08)
critical friction velocity for each kind of test particles. We found Case2 (Tu/U=0.1)
0.35
that Tu varied linearly with U, at least in the present range of the Bagnold (1941)
experiment. Therefore, in this work, Tu/U may be expressed as Chepil (1956)
following for each case of the roughness patterns: 0.3

U,ct [m/s]
Sand#7
Glass-L
(2) 0.25
Sand#8

1 0.2
Sand#9
Hb=10 mm (Case 1)
0.8 Hb=40 mm (Case 2) 0.15
20 40 100 200 400 1000
dp [m]
Tu [m/s]

0.6
Figure 5. Critical friction velocity as a function of particle
U
0.4 0.1 diameter. Also shown are empirical correlationUfunctions by
ct=A{(s-a / a)gd}
1/2

existing experimental studies [1,9]. Bagnold(1941) Hb=1

8U Chepil(1945) Hb=4
0.2 0.0 Here, we may suppose theChepil(1945)
following
functions for the friction
velocity and the turbulence intensity of the air-phase flow at the
0 critical state for the saltation, based on the parameters given
0 2 4 6 8 10 explicitly in the experiments:
U [m/s]

Figure 3. Mainstream velocity versus integrated turblence (3)

intensity for different roughness block heights. (4)
The subscript of ct represents the critical value. It must be not
adequate to include a non-local parameter in the equation which
Observation of Particle Saltation will determine the physics locally, the parameter of Hb should be
Figure 4 presents a typical picture of one flying particle at the eliminated from equations (3) and (4). Therefore, in the following
critical friction velocity. The picture was made by composion of discussion, let us consider an equation for U,ct including Tu, as
several succesive pictures taken at every 1/500 sec. In the figure, follows
a thick horizontal line represents the sand-bed surface illuminated
strongly by the laser sheet. According to the present result of (5)
careful observations, particles saltaton occurred spontaneously
For non-dimensionalization of the physical quantities, we would
from their rest satates not triggered by impingement of suspended
employ three terms in the forms of
partilces from the upstream. The saltating particles such as one
presented in Figure 4, which were caused by the excess of wind
velocity over the critical friction velocity, were found to be flown
(6)
with revealing low orbits.
y In Figure 6, the critical friction velocity U,ct is replotted
x against the particle mean diameter dp, but both are dimensionless
y
and the value of U,ct is normalized by Tu2. The multiplication by
x 10 mm
the turbulence intensity may be reasonablealthough the index
y number of 2 has no physical interpretation, since the critical
x
Particle source (sand-bed region) friction velocities obtained for Case 1 exceeded those for Case 2
in all cases. As a result, both Case 1 and Case 2 reveal a single
fitting line that describes an equation
Figure 4. Picture of a visualized particle (Glass-L) that jumpes
from the sand bed. Taken at every 1/500 sec.
(7)
Study on Critical Friction Velocity
irrespective of the magnitude of Tu/U. Moreover, an relational
Figure 5 presents the critical friction velocity U,ct for each
expression that U increases with dp0.5 is also derived from
kind of particle against the average particle size dp in the
horizontal axis. It can be seen that the silica sand particle roughly equation (7) and agrees well with the equation by Bagnold [1].
follows the empirical function proposed by Chepil [9]. Every
particle has exhibited different critical friction velocities between
 105
Case1 (Tu /U = 0.08)
Case2 (Tu /U = 0.1)
U,ct (Tu ) /gdp
104
2
103 1 5
1
102 -3
10 10-2 10-1
dp/
Figure 6. Critical friction velocity multiplied by squared mean
turblent intensity versus dimensionless particle diameter.
Next, the density ratio between solid and air phases would be
considered. In the present work, the same-size particles with
different densities were limited to the glass particles of Glass-L
and Glass-H. Hence, a high-order function could not be proposed
with respect to p/g from the present experiment. Cabrejos &
Clinzing [3] carried out experiments to determine pickup velocity
of a wide variety of materials and proposed the equation of
(8)
From equations (7) and (8), we obtain
(9)
Then, U,ct can be predicted if the coefficient is known. In order
to determine a priori, U,ct calculated using equation (9) were
compared with those obtained directly by the experiments. Figure
7 shows the result of comparison with = 0.065. A symbol
each symbol represents different kind of particlesclose to the
solid line in the figure implies a good prediction in terms of the
critical friction velocity. Actually, the predictions are found to be
in good agreement with the experimental results in most of cases.
It is worth to note that the critical friction velocity for Glass-H,
whose density is about twice as high as the others, can be also
predicted well. This demonstrates the validity of equation (8).
Conclusions
We measured the critical friction velocity for the wind-blown
sand saltation in turbulent boundary layers over flat sand bed, by
means of visualization using an argon laser sheet, and a high-
speed camera. Several experiments were performed to determine
the dependencies of the critical friction velocity on the turbulence
contribution, the particle diameter, and the particle density. We
chose the streamwise turbulence intensity (measured by PIV
separately) integrated in the wall-normal direction as the
indicator of contribution of turbulence. The equation we would
propose in this paper is given in equation (9). Although further
experiments for the validation of the empirical equation in a wide
range of parameters pertaining to the air flow and the particle, we
successfully took into account interaction with the turbulence
(intensity) affecting the critical friction velocity.
15
Case1 (Tu /U=0.08)
Case2 (Tu /U=0.1)
Predicted U,ct /(gdp)0.5
10
Glass-H
0
0 5 10 15
0.5
Measured U,ct /(gdp)
Figure 7. Comparison between measured and predicted values for
critical friction velocity.
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