Effects of a natural windbreak on dust dispersion in the neutral surface layer

• Author / Creator

  Mao, Yiwen

• Field experiments were conducted in Indian Head, Saskatchewan in order to study the effects of a natural shelterbelt (width-to-height ratio W/H = 0.5) on dust dispersion from a gravel road. Transects of dust concentration sensors running normal to the road were placed both in the lee of the windbreak and in an adjacent unsheltered region. A Lagrangian stochastic (LS) model was developed to compute the theoretical ratio (c/Q) of concentration to emission rate and infer time average concentration (c) and the ensemble mean concentration transient. In about 69% of cases the inferred time average concentration lay within a factor of two of the corresponding observations (FAC2 = 69%). The modeled and experimental results suggest that the natural windbreak is not effective in filtering small dust particles (D ≤ 20 μm), but that windbreak entrapment can be a significant mechanism to remove large dust particles (D ≥ 50 μm).

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Natural windbreaks
  • Road dust control
  • Air quality
  • Environments

• Graduation date

  2013-06

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Science

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3B39D

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.