Computational fluid dynamic modeling of drifting particles at porous fences

This paper introduces a computational fluid dynamic (CFD) model for two and three-dimensional simulation of wind blown particles such as sand, soil or snow. The model is based on the homogenous two-phase flow theory, where the flow field is predicted by solving Navier–Stokes equations for transient, incompressible viscous flow. The particle volume fraction is predicted by solving the transport convection/diffusion equation. Particles transported by suspension and by saltation modes are modeled separately and added to the transport equation as extra source terms. A new solid interface boundary is introduced to the flow computational domain as particles accumulate to form deposition regions. The model treats control volumes fully blocked by particles as solid surfaces whenever the deposition conditions are satisfied. The transport equations are discretized in Eulerian reference frame using finite volume method. The model is used to simulate the flow field around fences for two applications, snow drift at single row fence and sand drift at double row fence. In both cases, the model shows good agreement with observations and a realistic behavior of the snow and sand particles that deposited at porous fences as compared with both field and wind tunnel measurements.