THE EFFECT OF SURFACE SLOPE ON SALTATION THRESHOLD

A new wind tunnel has been constructed to study the mass transport pro perties of wind-blown sand. This report on the first set of experiment s in the new wind tunnel concerns the effect of slope on threshold fri ction speed. The results of this series of static threshold experiment s (and one dynamic threshold experiment) for a range of particle diame ters and bed slope angles show that, provided the effects of Reynolds number variation and interparticle cohesive force are accounted for, t he static friction angle a is independent of slope and close in value to the measured static angle of response.