A two-species continuum model for aeolian sand transport

Abstract

Starting from the physics on the grain scale, we develop a simple continuum description of aeolian sand transport. Beyond popular mean-field models, but without sacrificing their computational efficiency, it accounts for both dominant grain populations, hopping (or "saltating") and creeping (or "reptating") grains. The predicted stationary sand transport rate is in excellent agreement with wind tunnel experiments simulating wind conditions ranging from the onset of saltation to storms. Our closed set of equations thus provides an analytically tractable, numerically precise, and computationally efficient starting point for applications addressing a wealth of phenomena from dune formation to dust emission.