Ejection and impact angles of saltating particles measured with a high-speed camera

Abstract

3D and 2D trajectory data of sand grains saltating over a bed are presented from highspeed camera measurements. They were obtained at Zingst peninsula and in laboratory using a wind tunnel. Trajectories, calculated with a Runge-Kutta procedure, using values of the mean wind profile and the air flow were fitted to the measured ones. The trajectory with the lowest RMSE against the measured one was used to estimate the grain diameter of the saltating grain. Also ejection and impact angle, ejection and impact speed of the grain were determined. The results confirm earlier findings that ejection angles decreases with increasing grain diameter. Ejection angles between 57° and 27° for fine (63-200 μm) and middle (200-630 μm) ejecta and between 38° and 20° for coarse grains (630-2000 μm) were found. The impact angle β increases with increasing grain diameter. Impact angles between 8° and 15° for fine impactors and between 12° and 36° for middle and coarse grains were found. Additionally the ratio between the mean ejection angle α and mean impact angle β, which decrease with increasing grain diameter (Rice et al., 1995), could be confirmed. The ration between the ejection speed ue and impact speed ui was found nearly the same for all determined grain sizes, but the grains ejected from the bed had an average speed of one order of magnitude less than the impact speed

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