FINITE-ELEMENT ANALYSIS OF AIR-FLOW AROUND PERMEABLE SAND FENCES

A numerical study of the turbulent air flow in a trench trap and the t urbulent flow around a permeable sand fence is reported in this paper. The two-dimensional modified k-epsilon turbulence model proposed by K ato and Launder is used to predict the turbulent characteristics of th e air flow. The discretization method for the governing equations is t he three-step Taylor/Galerkin finite element method proposed by the au thors. For the flow in a trench trap the numerical results are compare d with experimental data obtained under realistic conditions using a l arge wind tunnel. For the air flow around a permeable sand fence a pre ssure loss model is used to represent the effect of the porosity of th e fence on the flow field. (C) 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.