Measurements of dust deposition velocity in a wind-tunnel experiment

Abstract

In this study, we present the results of a wind-tunnel experiment on dust deposition. A new method is proposed to derive dust deposition velocity from PDA (particle dynamics analysis) particle-velocity and particle-size measurements. This method has the advantage that the motions of individual dust particles are directly observed and all relevant data for computing dust deposition velocity is collected using a single instrument, and thus the measurement uncertainties are reduced. The method is used in the wind-tunnel experiment to measure dust deposition velocities for different particle sizes, wind speeds and surface conditions. For sticky-smooth wood and water surfaces, the observed dust deposition velocities are compared with the predictions using a dust deposition scheme, and the entire data set is compared with the data found in the literature. From the wind-tunnel experiments, a relatively reliable data set of dust deposition velocities is obtained, which is valuable for the development and validation of dust deposition schemes.