Aeolian transport of cohesive sand

The influence of moisture on wind-driven sand transport is particularly important in coastal environements. While moisture is generally low in desert sands, it significantly affects sand transport on beaches or in coastal dune dynamics. Studies on the impact of moisture are far from yielding consistent results because it is difficult to control and measure moisture levels due to evaporation. We circumvent this difficulty by using sand-oil mixtures which offers the advantage to get rid of evaporation. With these, we conducted wind-tunnel experiments and documented with an unprecedented accuracy the effects of cohesion on wind-blown sand.