Mass momentum and kinetic energy fluxes of saltating particles

New instrumentation is used for measuring mass flux and momentum flux near the leading edge of an erodible deposit of particles in a wind tunnel. Measurements changed greatly as a function of distance from the leading edge of the particle deposit. The changes were shown to derive from changes in friction velocity resulting from a particle-wind speed interaction and from a wind tunnel constraint. The sand flux and wind profile vertical momentum flux affect each other in a kind of feedback system. Beyond a distance of 1 m from the leading edge of the erodible particle deposit, the ratio of the vertical kinetic energy flux to the horizontal mass flux was almost constant.