Wind tunnel experiments on the effects of tillage ridge features on wind erosion horizontal fluxes

In order to parameterize horizontal soil fluxes produced by wind over tillage ridges, eight-ridge configurations composed of sandy soil and exhibiting ridge heights to ridge spacing (RH/RS) ratios ranging from 0.18 to 0.38 were experimented in a wind tunnel. These experiments are used to develop a parameterization of the horizontal fluxes over tillage ridged surfaces based only on the geometric characteristics of the ridges. Indeed, the key parameters controlling the horizontal flux, namely the friction velocity, threshold friction velocity and the adjustment coefficient, are derived through specific expressions, from ridge heights (RH) and ridge spacing (RS). This parameterization was evaluated by comparing the results of the simulations to an additional experimental data set and to the data set obtained by Hagen and Armbrust (1992). In both cases, predicted and measured values are found to be in a satisfying agreement.