Exploration of playa surface crusts in Qehan Lake, China through field investigation and wind tunnel experiments

Globally,many lakes are drying up,leaving exposed lakebeds where wind erosion releases dust and sand rich in salt and harmful heavy metals into the atmosphere.Therefore,understanding the characteristics and spatial distribution of playa surface crusts is important to recognize the manifestation of salt dust storms.The objective of this study was to explore the playa surface crust types as well as their spatial distribution and evolution of Qehan Lake in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region,China to understand the salt dust release potential of different types of playa surface crusts.Various crust characteristics were investigated by field sampling in Qehan Lake,and playa surface crusts were further divided into five types:vegetated areas,salt crusts,clay flats,curly crusts,and margins.It should be noted that curly crusts were distributed in clay flats and covered only a small area in Qehan Lake.The spatial distribution characteristics of playa surface crust types were obtained by supervised classification of remote sensing images,and the salt dust release potential of crusts was explored by the wind tunnel experiments.The field investigation of Qehan Lake revealed that playa surface crust types had a circum-lake band distribution from the inside to the outside of this lake,which were successively vegetated areas,clay flats,salt crusts,and margins.The spatial distribution patterns of playa surface crust types were mainly controlled by the hydrodynamics of the playa,soil texture,and groundwater.There was a significant negative correlation between crust thickness and electrical conductivity.The results of the wind tunnel experiments showed that the initial threshold of friction wind velocity for the salt dust release was higher in clay flats(0.7–0.8 m/s)than in salt crusts(0.5–0.6 m/s).Moreover,the particle leap impact processes occurring under natural conditions may reduce this threshold value.Salinity was the main factor controlling the difference in the initial threshold of friction wind velocity for the salt dust release of clay flats and salt crusts.This study provides a scientific reference for understanding how salt dust is released from a lakebed,which may be used for ecological restoration of dry salt lakes.

Investigation on Temperature Field Calibration and Analysis of Wind Tunnel

For wind tunnels,it is essential to conduct temperature and flow field calibration on their test section,which is an important indicator for evaluating the quality of wind tunnel flow fields.In the paper,a truss composed of temperature sensors was used to calibrate the temperature field of a completed wind tunnel section.By adjusting the distance between the temperature measurement truss and the nozzle,as well as the wind speed,the temperature field distribution data at different positions could be obtained.Analyze these data to identify important factors that affect the distribution of temperature field.Simultaneously,the temperature field of the wind tunnel was simulated accordingly.The purpose is to further analyze the fluid heat transfer between air and wind tunnel walls through numerical simulation.Through the above analysis methods,the quality of the temperature field in the wind tunnel has been further verified,providing reference for future wind tunnel tests of relevant models.

Experiment about Drag Reduction of Bionic Non-smooth Surface in Low Speed Wind Tunnel

The body surface of some organisms has non-smooth structure, which is related to drag reduction in moving fluid. To imitate these structures, models with a non-smooth surface were made. In order to find a relationship between drag reduction and the non-smooth surface, an orthogonal design test was employed in a low speed wind tunnel. Six factors likely to influence drag reduction were considered, and each factor tested at three levels. The six factors were the configuration, diameter/bottom width, height/depth, distribution, the arrangement of the rough structures on the experimental model and the wind speed. It was shown that the non-smooth surface causes drag reduction and the distribution of non-smooth structures on the model, and wind speed, are the predominant factors affecting drag reduction. Using analysis of variance, the optimal combination and levels were obtained, which were a wind speed of 44 m/s, distribution of the non-smooth structure on the tail of the experimental model, the configuration of riblets, diameter/bottom width of i mm, height/depth of 0.5 mm, arranged in a rhombic formation. At the optimal combination mentioned above, the 99% confidence interval for drag reduction was 11.13% to 22.30%.

Wind tunnel experiments on dust emissions from different landform types

The measurement and assessment of dust emissions from different landforms are important to understand the atmospheric loading of PM10 （particulate matter ≤10 μm aerodynamic diameter） and to assess natural sources of dust; however, the methodology and technique for determining the dust still present significant research challenges. In the past, specialized field observation and field wind tunnel studies have been used to understand the dust emission. A series of wind tunnel tests were carried out to identify natural sources of dust and measure the magnitudes of dust emissions from different landforms. The method used in this study allowed the measurement of the PM10 emission rate using a laboratory based environmental boundary layer wind tunnel. Results indicated that PM10 emissions demonstrated strong temporal variation and were primarily driven by aerodynamic entrainment. Sand dunes, playa, and alluvial fans had the largest dust emission rates （0.8-5.4 mg/（me.s）） while sandy gravel, Gobi desert and abandoned lands had the lowest emission rates （0.003-0.126 mg/（m2.s））. Dust emissions were heavily dependent on the surface conditions, especially the availability of loose surface dust. High dust emissions were a result of the availability of dust- particle materials for entrainment while low dust emissions were a result of surface crusts and gravel cover. Soil surface property （surface crusts and gravel cover） plays an important role in controlling the availability of dust-sized particles for entrainment. The dust emission rate depended not only on the surface conditions but also on the friction velocity. The emission rate of PM10 varies as a power function of the friction velocity. Although dynamic abrasion processes have a strong influence on the amount of dust entrainment, aerodynamic entrainment may provide an important mechanism for dust emissions. Large volumes of dust entrained by aerodynamic entrainment cannot only occur at low shear velocity without saltation, but may dominate the entrainment process in many arid and semi-arid environments. So it may also be responsible for large magnitude dust storms. Playa and alluvial fan landforms, prior to developing a surface crust, may be the main sources of dust storms in Qinghai Province.

Wind tunnel experiment of drag of isolated tree models in surface boundary layer

For very sparse tree land individual tree was the basic element of interaction between atmosphere and the surface. Drag of isolated tree was preliminary aerodynamic index for analyzing the atmospheric boundary layer of this kind of surface. A simple pendulum method was designed and carried out in wind tunnel to measure drag of isolated tree models according to balance law of moment of force. The method was easy to conduct and with small error The results showed that the drag and drag coefficient of isolated tree increased with decreasing of its permeability or porosity. Relationship between drag coefficient and permeability of isolated tree empirically was expressed by quadric curve.

Wind Tunnel Experimental Investigation on the Aerodynamic Characteristics of the Multifin Rockets and Missiles

The transonic-supersonic wind tunnel experiment on the aerodynamics of the rockets and missiles that have four, six, eight flat or wrap-around fins is introduced. The experimental results show, while M∞〈2.0, with the increase of the fins＇number, the derivative of lift coefficient is increasing, the pressure center is shifting backwards, and the longitudinal static stability is augmenting. On the contrary, while the Mach number exceeds a certain supersonic value, the aerodynamic effectiveness of the eight-fin missiles would be lower than that of the six-fin missiles. For the low speed short-range missiles, by adopting six, eight or ten flat fins configuration, the lift effectiveness can be greatly increased, the pressure center can be shifted backwards, the static and dynamic stability can be obviously enhanced. For the high speed long-range large rockets and missiles launched from multi-tube launcher, the configuration adopting more than six fins can not be useful for increasing the stability but would make the rolling rate instable during the flight.

Evaluation of a Micro-scale Wind Model's Performance over Realistic Building Clusters Using Wind Tunnel Experiments

The simulation performance over complex building clusters of a wind simulation model（Wind Information Field Fast Analysis model, WIFFA） in a micro-scale air pollutant dispersion model system（Urban Microscale Air Pollution dispersion Simulation model, UMAPS） is evaluated using various wind tunnel experimental data including the CEDVAL（Compilation of Experimental Data for Validation of Micro-Scale Dispersion Models） wind tunnel experiment data and the NJU-FZ experiment data（Nanjing University-Fang Zhuang neighborhood wind tunnel experiment data）. The results show that the wind model can reproduce the vortexes triggered by urban buildings well, and the flow patterns in urban street canyons and building clusters can also be represented. Due to the complex shapes of buildings and their distributions, the simulation deviations/discrepancies from the measurements are usually caused by the simplification of the building shapes and the determination of the key zone sizes. The computational efficiencies of different cases are also discussed in this paper. The model has a high computational efficiency compared to traditional numerical models that solve the Navier–Stokes equations, and can produce very high-resolution（1–5 m） wind fields of a complex neighborhood scale urban building canopy（～ 1 km ×1km） in less than 3 min when run on a personal computer.

Wind Tunnel Test for Videogrammetric Deformation Measurement of UAV for Mars Airplane Balloon Experiment-1 (MABE-1)

This paper reports the results of the aerodynamic deformation measurements of the meter-scale, entire shape, actual UAV in the wind tunnel using a video grammetry technique. The measured airplane was the airplane for Mars exploration being developed by Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Japanese universities. Its main wing span length was 2.4 m. The video grammetry measurement was performed using VICON’s system. Retroactive markers and stickers were put on the airplane. JAXA’s 6.5 m × 5.5 m Low-Speed Wind Tunnel was used. The airplane was mounted on the strut support with pitch-free or pitch-locked conditions. The deformations of the main wing bending, the main wing twisting, the tail boom bending, and the elevator deflection angle change were revealed quantitatively. The bending stiffness of a main wing spar that was designed as a safety factor of 2.8 at load factor of 5 was sufficient. The main wing spar was located around a center of pressure of an airfoil and it showed enough stiffness for twisting at nominal condition. The effects of the main wing bending and twisting, and the tail boom bending on the aerodynamic performance were estimated but they were in an acceptable range from the standpoint of the controllability of the aerodynamic performance using control surfaces. Even though the servo motor was located near the elevator and the linkage between the servo motor and the elevator was short, the measured elevator deflection angle was at most 4% smaller than the angle at no-wind condition. The obtained results and presented method are useful for control, flight data analysis, and design of lightweight airplanes.

Experimental study on correlation between turbulence and sound in a subsonic wind tunnel

In this paper, the effects of turbulence on sound generation and velocity fluctuations due to pressure waves in a large subsonic wind tunnel are studied. A trip strip located at different positions in the contraction part or at one position in the diffuser of a large wind tunnel is used to investigate the aforementioned phenomenon, and the results indicate that the trip strip has significant effects on sound reduction. The lowest turbulence intensity and sound are obtained from a trip strip with a diameter of 0.91 mm located either at X/L = 0.79 or at X/L = 0.115 in the wide portion of the contraction. Furthermore, the effect of monopole, dipole and quadrupole sources of aerodynamic noise at different velocities is investigated, and it is demonstrated that the contribution of the monopole is dominant, while the shares due to the dipole and quadrupole remain less important. In addition, it is found that the sound waves have a modest impact on the measured longitudinal turbulence and are generated essentially by eddies.

A wind tunnel experiment of self-starting capability for straight-bladed vertical axis wind turbine

In this study,wind tunnel experiment was carried out to investigate the self-staring capability for straight-bladed vertical axis wind turbine.The flow visualization also was been performed at the rest of the rotor.The effect of the azimuthal angle of blade position relative to wind direction on the self-starting capability was discussed based on the results of flow visualization.The torque and centripetal force of the rotor when the self-starting behavior starts were roughly calculated with the flow visualization results of the rotor.It is suggested that there exists the condition of wind speed and configuration of the blade position of the rotor at the rest of rotor to the reach to situational rotation number.

Evolution of crescent-shaped sand dune under the influence of injected sand flux:scaling law and wind tunnel experiment

This paper studies the evolution of crescent-shaped dune under the influence of injected flux. A scaling law and a wind tunnel experiment are carried out for comparison. The experiment incorporates a novel image processing algorithm to recover the evolutionary process. The theoretical and experimental results agree well in the middle stage of dune evolution, but deviate from each other in the initial and final stages, suggesting that the crescent-shaped dune evolution is intrinsically scale-variant and that the crescent shape breaks down under unsaturated condition.

Reinvestigation of the scaling law of the windblown sand launch velocity with a wind tunnel experiment

Windblown sand transport is a leading factor in the geophysical evolution of arid and semi-arid regions.The evolution speed is usually indicated by the sand transport rate that is a function of launch velocity of sand particle,which has been investigated by the experimental measurement and numerical simulation.However,the obtained results in literatures are inconsistent.Some researchers have discovered a relation between average launch velocity and wind shear velocity,while some other researchers have suggested that average launch velocity is independent of wind shear velocity.The inconsistence of launch velocity leads to a controversy in the scaling law of the sand transport rate in the windblown case.On the contrary,in subaqueous case,the scaling law of the sand transport rate has been widely accepted as a cubic function of fluid shear velocity.In order to explain the debates surrounding the windblown case and the difference between windblown and subaquatic cases,this study reinvestigates the scaling law of the vertical launch velocity of windblown transported sand particles by using a dimensional analysis in consideration of the compatibility of the characteristic time of sand particle motion and that of air flow.Then a wind tunnel experiment is conducted to confirm the revisited scaling law,where the sand particle motion pictures are recorded by a high-speed camera and then the launch velocity is solved by the particle tracking velocimetry.By incorporating the results of dimensional analysis and wind tunnel experiment,it can be concluded that,the ratio of saltons number to reptons number determines the scaling law of sand particle launch velocity and that of sand transport rate,and using this ratio is able to explain the discrepancies among the classical models of steady sand transport.Moreover,the resulting scaling law can explain the sand sieving phenomenon:a greater fraction of large grains is observed as the distance to the wind tunnel entrance becomes larger.

Large-Eddy Simulation and Wind Tunnel Experiment of Airflow over Bolund Hill

In the present study, wind conditions were numerically predicted for the site of the Bolund hill using the RIAM-COMPACT natural terrain version software, which is based on an LES turbulence model (CFD). In addition, airflow measurements were made using a split-fiber probe in the boundary layer wind tunnel. The characteristics of the airflow at and in the vicinity of the site of the Bolund Experiment were clarified. The study also examined the prediction accuracy of the LES turbulence simulations (CFD). The values of the streamwise (x) wind velocity predicted by the CFD model were generally in good agreement with those from the wind tunnel experiment at all points and heights examined, demonstrating the validity of CFD based on LES turbulence modeling.

Effects of sand sedimentation and wind erosion around sand barrier:Numerical simulation and wind tunnel test studies

Based on numerical simulations,this study highlights the sedimentation and erosion problems around a sand barrier through the relationship between the shear stress of the surface around the sand barrier and the critical shear stress of sand grains.The numerical simulation results were verified using data measured by the wind tunnel test.The results showed that when the porosity was the same,the size and position of the vortex on the leeward side of the sand barrier were related to the inlet wind speed.As the wind speed increased,the vortex volume increased and the positions of the separation and reattachment points moved toward the leeward side.When the porosity of the sand barrier was 30%,the strength of the acceleration zone above the sand barrier was the highest,and the strength of the acceleration zone was negatively correlated with the porosity.Sand erosion and sedimentation distance were related to wind speed.With an increase in wind speed,the sand grain forward erosion or reverse erosion areas on the leeward side of the sand barrier gradually replaced the sedimentation area.With an increase in porosity,the sand sedimentation distance on the leeward side of the sand barrier gradually shortened,and the sand erosion area gradually disappeared.The sand sedimentation distance on the leeward side of the sand barrier with 30%porosity was the longest.The numerical simulation results were in good agreement with the wind tunnel test results.Based on the sand erosion and sedimentation results of the numerical simulation and wind tunnel test,when the porosity was 30%,the protection effect of the High Density Polyethylene(HDPE)board sand barrier was best.

THEORETICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH ON DYNAMIC BEHAVIOR OF GUYED MASTS UNDER WIND LOAD

A frequency-domain algorithm is presented for the dynamic analysis of guyed masts. By introducing a four-degrees-of-freedom model of a suspended cable, guyed masts are simpli?ed as an equivalent cable-beam model. Then, based on the discrete random vibration theory, recurrence formulas for the statistical moments of the wind-induced behavior of guyed masts are developed with the wind load treated as ?ltered white noise excitation. The dynamic analysis of a two-level guyed mast has been illustrated. Finally, results from a wind-tunnel experiment of guyed mast are used to testify the theory developed in this paper.

Experimental investigation of dynamic stall flow control using a microsecond-pulsed plasma actuator

To alleviate the performance deterioration caused by dynamic stall of a wind turbine airfoil,the flow control by a microsecond-pulsed dielectric barrier discharge(MP-DBD) actuator on the dynamic stall of a periodically pitching NACA0012 airfoil was investigated experimentally.Unsteady pressure measurements with high temporal accuracy were employed in this study,and the unsteady characteristics of the boundary layer were investigated by wavelet packet analysis and the moving root mean square method based on the acquired pressure.The experimental Mach number was 0.2,and the chord-based Reynolds number was 870 000.The dimensionless actuation frequencies F+ were chosen to be 0.5,1,2,and 3,respectively.For the light dynamic regime,the MP-DBD plasma actuator plays the role of suppressing flow separation from the trial edge and accelerating the flow reattachment due to the high-momentum freestream flow being entrained into the boundary layer.Meanwhile,actuation effects were promoted with the increasing dimensionless actuation frequency F+.The control effects of the deep dynamic stall were to delay the onset and reduce the strength of the dynamic stall vortex due to the accumulating vorticity near the leading edge being removed by the induced coherent vortex structures.The laminar fluctuation and Kelvin-Helmholtz(K-H) instabilities of transition and relaminarization were also mitigated by the MP-DBD actuation,and the alleviated K-H rolls led to the delay of the transition onset and earlier laminar reattachment,which improved the hysteresis effect of the dynamic stall.For the controlled cases of F+=2,and F+=3,the laminar fluctuation was replaced by relatively low frequency band disturbances corresponding to the harmonic responses of the MP-DBD actuation frequency.

Experimental study of wind loads on cylindrical reticulated shells

The cylindrical reticulated shell structures without side walls, which are normally arranged in pairs, are usually used as dry-coal sheds in a thermal power plant. The wind loads of these shells do not exist in standards or codes. Therefore, this study investigates the mean and fluctuating wind loads on a cylindrical reticulated shell with a rise-to-span ratio of 0.39 through a series of wind tunnel tests. The characteristics of the wind pressures on the upper and lower surfaces and the net pressures are presented. The results show that the wind direction and another shell structure significantly affect the wind loads on the principal shell. The most unfavorable wind direction is around 30~, whereas the effects of the wind field and the height of the coal stack are small. The surfaces of the shells are divided into nine blocks, and the block mean and fluctuating （rms） pressure coefficients suitable for engineering applications are given as references for wind load codes.

Experiment Study of Dynamics Response for Wind Turbine System of Floating Foundation

The floating foundation is designed to support a 1.5 MW wind turbine in 30 m water depth. With consideration of the viscous damping of foundation and heave plates, the amplitude-frequency response characteristics of the foundation are studied. By taking into account the elastic effect of blades and tower, the classic quasi-steady blade-element/momentum（BEM） theory is used to calculate the aerodynamic elastic loads. A coupled dynamic model of the turbine-foundationmooring lines is established to calculate the motion response of floating foundation under Kaimal wind spectrum and regular wave by using the FAST codes. The model experiment is carried out to test damping characteristics and natural motion behaviors of the wind turbine system. The dynamics response is tested by considering only waves and the joint action of wind and waves. It is shown that the wind turbine system can avoid resonances under the action of wind and waves. In addition, the heave motion of the floating foundation is induced by waves and the surge motion is induced by wind. The action of wind and waves is of significance for pitch.