Back to Search
Start Over
Anomalous Scaling of Aeolian Sand Transport Reveals Coupling to Bed Rheology.
- Source :
-
Physical review letters [Phys Rev Lett] 2023 Feb 03; Vol. 130 (5), pp. 058204. - Publication Year :
- 2023
-
Abstract
- Predicting transport rates of windblown sand is a central problem in aeolian research, with implications for climate, environmental, and planetary sciences. Though studied since the 1930s, the underlying many-body dynamics is still incompletely understood, as underscored by the recent empirical discovery of an unexpected third-root scaling in the particle-fluid density ratio. Here, by means of grain-scale simulations and analytical modeling, we elucidate how a complex coupling between grain-bed collisions and granular creep within the sand bed yields a dilatancy-enhanced bed erodibility. Our minimal saltation model robustly predicts both the observed scaling and a new undersaturated steady transport state that we confirm by simulations for rarefied atmospheres.
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 1079-7114
- Volume :
- 130
- Issue :
- 5
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- Physical review letters
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 36800459
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.130.058204