Migrating dunes over hilly terrains

• Grant number: 22/01743-6
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: August 01, 2022
• End date: November 30, 2023
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Mechanical Engineering - Transport Phenomena
• Agreement: NERC, UKRI
• Principal Investigator: Erick de Moraes Franklin
• Grantee: Erick de Moraes Franklin
• Principal researcher abroad: Nathalie Vriend
• Institution abroad: University of Cambridge, England
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Engenharia Mecânica (FEM). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Associated researchers: Ascanio Dias Araújo ; Carlos Azael Alvarez Zambrano ; Cezar Otaviano Ribeiro Negrao ; Hans Jurgen Herrmann ; Nathalie Vriend ; Yuri Dumaresq Sobral
• Associated research grant: 18/14981-7 - Modeling of dense granular flows: experiments, numerical simulations and stability analyses, AP.JP2

Abstract

Climate change impacts weather patterns and meteorological long-term data and subsequently erosion rates in deserts. Desertification is a global concern and mobile hyper-arid desert dunes threaten settlements and infrastructure of as many as one billion people worldwide. To effectively mitigate the hazard for downwind communities and infrastructure, we need to understand the dynamics of their evolution, from the growth of a bedform to the steady-state processes of a mature dune. In extra-terrestrial environments with vastly different gravity, dunes are commonplace on Mars', Venus', Titan's and Pluto's hilly terrains, interiors of craters and vast inclining planes. Because of the large timescales (millennia) involved in the migration of extra-terrestrial dunes, the lack of historical data and scarce observational data via satellites, experiments in laboratories are a crucial ingredient to provide insights in dune migration on varying topography and to understand morphodynamics of dunes in all environments. The objective of this project is to understand external landscape variations and topography on the migration characteristics of sand dunes. Physical scalings and mathematical models of dune migration have made huge steps forward in recent years, but are grounded on modelling migration on an idealized flat earth, which is not a realistic scenario. Here, informed by detailed 2D and 3D experimental measurements, we will develop a physical understanding of variations in topography on dune migration characteristics. (AU)