STUDY ON THE THRESHOLD FLUID WIND VELOCITY FOR SAND PARTICLE TAKE-OFF USING THE SPH METHOD

The smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) method is used in this study to simulate the take-off phenomenon of sand particles in air flows. The threshold wind velocity for sand particle take-off has always been the focus of wind-blown sand two phase flow studies. Using the SPH method, the whole computational domain is discretized into two single phase particles, representing respectively the air phase and the sand particle phase. The movement of an individual sand particle under the action of air phase particles is dynamically simulated. Key factors in the SPH formulation and their influence on numerical simulation are first introduced in this study. Subsequently, the SPH numerical model of wind-sand two-phase flow is proposed; the computational domain is discretized, and boundary conditions are specified. Comparisons between the modelling results and experimental measurements and published data from literature confirm the validity of the proposed model. Novel conclusions are derived accordingly.