Quantitative Visualization of Flow Fields Associated with Alluvial Sand Dunes: Results from the Laboratory and Field Using Ultrasonic and Acoustic Doppler Anemometry

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Best, J.L. | Kostaschuk, R.A. | Villard, P.V.

Affiliations: School of Earth Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK. | Department of Geography, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario N1G 2W1, Canada. | Department of Geography, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z2, Canada.

Abstract: This paper presents results detailing the quantitative visualization of flow fields associated with natural sand dunes, Fraser River Estuary, Canada, using the complementary approaches of laboratory modelling and field instrumentation. Ultrasonic Doppler velocity profiling is used in the laboratory to elucidate the mean flow fields of low-angle dunes (leeside slope angle ~14°) that are typical of many large natural rivers. These dunes do not possess a zone of permanent flow separation in the dune leeside and have a velocity structure that is dominated by the effects of flow acceleration and deceleration generated by topographic forcing of flow over the dune form. Turbulence associated with these dunes appears linked to both longer-period shear layer flapping and eddy generation along the shear layer. The field study uses acoustic Doppler profiling to reveal similar mean flow patterns and shows that flow is dominated by deceleration in the leeside without the presence of a region of permanent separated flow.

Keywords: sand dunes, coherent flow structures, mean flow field, acoustic Doppler profiling (ADP), ultrasonic Doppler velocity profiling (UDVP)

Journal: Journal of Visualization, vol. 4, no. 4, pp. 373-381, 2001