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

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

• Graduation date

  Spring 2013

• 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.