Aeolian sand transport is a widespread phenomenon on Earth and Mars surface. Aeolian sand saltation&nbsp;plays a&nbsp;dominant role and account for the soil erosion, dune formation and dust emission.&nbsp;In the current study, this phenomenon is studied in both the Mars and Earth environment. The interaction forces between particles and wind are important to sustain the saltation process. Several types of forces are considered. The Magnus force is caused by the rotation of the sand particles. The Saffman force is a force on a particle in flow in the direction perpendicular to the relative motion between the particle and the flow, and is caused by the vertical gradient of the flow velocity. These forces, in addition to the aerodynamic drag and the gravitational force, determine the height and distance of saltation. In this study, the effects of Magnus force, Saffman force, initial rotational speed and initial rotational attitude on sand saltation on both Mars and Earth environment are studied.This is a typical gas-solid two-phase flow, and the two-way coupling method is applied. A detailed numerical framework is established with an Eulerian–Lagrangian approach: an Eulerian description is used to analyze the continuous wind flow phase governed by the conservation equations of mass, momentum, and energy; a Lagrangian description in the form of Newton's&nbsp;law is used for the analysis of the discrete phase that consists of the sand particles.The results show that with the same initial condition of the discrete phase, there are significantly different saltation trajectories of the particle on Mars and Earth surfaces due to the low gravity and stronger wind on the Mars surface. The height and distance of saltation on Mars are&nbsp;hundreds of times larger than those on the Earth. The Magnus force and Saffman force can increase the rebound height and horizontal skipping distance of sand saltation both in Mars and Earth environment. The rotational attitude of particles can influence the rebound height and skipping distance by changing&nbsp;the direction of the Magnus force. A higher clockwise rotational speed of particle results in a higher rebound height and longer skipping distance saltation both in Mars and Earth environment. The saltation phenomenon can be found for Earth particle in Mars environment, while this phenomenon will disappear if the Mars particles are situated in the Earth environment. The results of the study&nbsp;can be applied to investigate&nbsp;dune formation on the&nbsp;surface of Mars.&nbsp;

Numerical Simulation of Mars and Earth Particle Saltation

Paper Proceedings: https://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/IMECE/IMECE2021/volume/85543

ASME 2021 International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition (IMECE2021)

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