Study on the Effect of Shrubs on Wind Erosion Control in Desert Regions

Abstract

The wind velocity reduces by encountering vegetation; thus, a shelter zone is generated at downstream of vegetation. Hence, planting vegetation, mainly shrubs, has widely been used to control sand transportation. However, plant shrubs in a large area of the desert are practically unsustainable and uneconomical. In this study, Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) and wind tunnel experiments were carried out to optimize the planting method of shrubs that could decrease the number of shrubs and increase wind erosion controlling efficiency in desert regions. The effects of shrub height, porosity, the number of shrub rows, and space between shrub rows on wind erosion control were studied. Based on the present study results, the downstream of shrubs was divided into three different zones: first erosion zone, sedimentation zone, and second erosion zone. Moreover, with the increase of shrub porosity, the first erosion zone’s length increased. In contrast, the sedimentation zone’s length decreased, whereas the length of the first erosion and sedimentation zones increased with shrub height. Hence, to make a better shelter zone, it is recommended to plant denser shrubs rows at the upstream and sparsely shrub rows at the far downstream.

Keywords

• numerical simulation, wind erosion control, vegetation shelterbelt, windblown sand