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AERO-DEFLECTOR SAND DUNE
Implementation study on the Ocata beach (El Masnou - Catalonia)


Fig.1. Sand angle of stability (7-11-2009)

Experiments indicate that the siliceous sand of the Ocata beach has an internal friction angle of around 32 °. This is the angle of the slope stability created with this sand.

The experiment shows a handful of sand 20 cm high on one of the wooden walkways of the beach. But we could make a 6 meter high dune, with the same angle for stability...

Building a sand bar 180 meters long and 6 meters tall, facing the laminar sea wind, it would create locally a very smooth upward flow, which would allow the paragliders (and "floater" hanggliders) with expert pilots, to keep them flying over for hours, playing with the wind, sand, and sea ... The utility would not be another, except perhaps constitute the balcony to the sea, carrying a few kilometers beyond the horizon the tangent of the visual curvature of the earth...

duna aerodeflectora
Fig. 2. Section type of the aero-deflector sand dune


Model 3D
Fig. 3. Tridimensional model


Fig. 4. Dune planform view,
embedded in a beach sector between streams.


Fig 5.
Aerial view of the aero-deflector dune in the central section of the Ocata beach.
Would allow the flight on a small height between SE and SW winds over 15 km/h.
Location:  41°28'45.41"N   2°19'26.82"E

More details:

The section of the dune, 6 m high and 22 meters base, is 76 m2. It has three axes corresponding to the wind main components of the south (182m), east (55m) and west  (76m). The volume of sand needed to create the dune is approximately 18000 m3. The task can be performed quickly with conventional earth-moving machinery, and the sand would result in lowering of -0.5 m (negligible) the adjacent sections of beaches. The dune is approached as a temporary action, restoring the geometry of the beach before the summer season.

  See also:  Inflatable and transportable dune.


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