LAUSR

Abstract Planted shelterbelts are widely used to reduce wind speed in order to control aeolian sediment transport. Both the morphology of each plant and the distribution of multiple plants are the key parameters to determine the wind reduction efficiency of shelterbelts. By a comprehensive analysis of the data from wind tunnel measurement and computer simulation from computational fluid dynamics (CFD), this paper studies airflow around a single plant with different shapes and resistance coefficients as well as around multiple plants with different row numbers, row spacing, column spacing and arrangement. The simulation is validated by wind tunnel experiment, and the realizable k-e turbulence enclosure model used in the simulation provides good predictions of the airflow field for both single and multiple plants. The study shows the morphology and resistance coefficient of a single plant have a significant influence on the flow field. Plant canopy with large bottoms and small tops has a better shelter efficiency. Increasing the row number, decreasing the row spacing or column spacing will result in a better overall shelter effect of a shelterbelt. The efficiency of each plant for multiple-row shelterbelt is lower than that of a single row shelterbelt. A single row shelterbelt is the most efficient type in reducing wind speed, although two or three rows of stagger distribution shelterbelts are also have good efficiencies.