Investigation of Windbreak Systems to Control Dust Generation and Dispersion in a Reclaimed Land: A Numerical Approach (original) (raw)

Ist International Symposium on CFD Applications in Agriculture, 2013

Abstract

ABSTRACT Windbreaks systems play an active role in improving the quality of the natural environment, accelerating the development of agriculture, forestry and animal husbandry, and increasing ecological, social and economical benefits. In a vast reclaimed land, where detrimental dusts are of enormous concern, windbreak's main purpose can be exclusively to control soil erosion, dust generation and diffusion. Artificial and natural windbreaks are very effective in minimizing the wind velocity especially in the dusts source areas, where it is the main catalyst of soil erosion, dust generation and diffusion. In this study, numerical simulation was utilized to evaluate the performance of both artificial and natural windbreaks in minimizing wind velocity. Windbreak fences of varied height and porosity and arranged in an array with different gap distance were investigated. For natural windbreaks, the effectiveness of trees in reducing the wind velocity was measured and quantified. Field experiments as well as wind tunnel studies were initially conducted to establish the validity of the simulation models. Simulation results were evaluated and suitable windbreak design for artificial and natural windbreaks were recommended. The numerical technique utilized in this study has proven its effectiveness in investigating dusts generation and diffusion which saves significant amount of time, labor and cost. INTRODUCTION Amidst the limited land resources of the country, Korea has been reclaiming lands for agricultural and industrial purposes. By 2006, 38% or approximately 1550 km 2 of coastal wetlands had been reclaimed, including a 400 km 2 area known as Saemanguem from three cities namely Gunsan, Buan and Kimje in the province of Chunla-book, South Korea (Korea Statistical Information Service, 2006). However, the generation of dust from the ground surface and its diffusion to nearby surrounding areas has become an emerging concern. This usually happens during the very dry months from late February to May where the wind velocity reaches from 2.0 to 7.0 m/s (Bitog et al., 2009). The dusts also contains significant amount of sodium chloride (NaCl) which is very harmful to plants. To minimize these problems, constructing artificial windbreaks within the dusts source areas to significantly reduce the wind velocity are the best options. Artificial

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