Modelling the dynamics of electrified particle flow during wind drift using OpenFoam

We study the generation of dust aerosol in the wind-driven cascading motion of charged particles over an irregular surface. The particles move under the influence of air flow over two elements of ripple type on an aeolian surface. Behind the obstacles the flow of saltation particles becomes non-uniform, the character of motion is noted by quasi-periodicity. The problem of including electrostatic effects into the hydrodynamic model, in which the mutual influence of particles and air medium is taken into account, was solved. A parametric model is proposed, which allows taking into account the chargeability of dust particles and the underlying surface in modeling wind transport. Computational experiments are carried out using the open source OpenFOAM package, the Eulerian-Lagrangian turbulent $k-\omega$-model. Accordingly, the dynamics of charged particles is considered taking into account the electrification of the surface itself. From the results of computational experiments for different density characteristics of particles charged homonymously with the surface, the influence of the electric field on the frequency of change of the number of particles in the flow, on the scattering of values of velocities and the height of particle hops, as well as on the weakening of the effect of particles on the medium behind obstacles is estimated. When the influence of electrostatic effects is taken into account, an increase in the disturbing effect of particles flying after obstacles on the air medium is revealed (the distance from the obstacle increases, more local areas of disturbance appear). A decrease in the dispersion value is noted for the velocities of hopping particles. The height of particle jumps increases, which is confirmed by known experiments. The lower value of characteristic frequencies of change in the number of particles in the flow decreases. The non-uniformity of the particle flow determines changes in the intensity of dust aerosol generation.