Numerical Simulation of the Formation of Linear Dunes

Three dimensional flow above a sand dune has been studied numerically by using Large-Eddy Simulation (LES) method. The movement of the sand which is formed by converging wind directions has been investigated. The numerical method employed in this study can be divided into three parts: (i) calculation of the air flow above the sand dune using MAC method with a generalized coordinate system; (ii) estimation of the sand transfer caused by the flow through the friction; (iii) determination of the shape of the sand surface. Since the computational area has been changed due to step (iii), (i)­(iii) are repeated. The simulated dune, which has initially elliptic cross section, extending at the converging direction which is known as linear dunes.