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The team's experiment -- which featured mock-up obstacles of varying size and shape -- shows that large obstacles are the most effective at halting the migration of a dune, especially when they are ridge-shaped, like a wall, rather than smooth and cylindrical, like a pipeline.
The model, published in Physical Review Fluids, is the first to describe interactions between sand dunes and obstacles.
By analysing how currents are deflected in the presence of an obstacle, they were also able to develop an efficient, data-driven tool which aims to forecast how a dune will interact with its surroundings.
The research could help in the design of more effective barriers that can, for instance, stop sand dunes invading agricultural land. It could also be used to protect sand dunes and their unique ecosystems from damage.
"Moving sand dunes impact people and their livelihoods directly; across the world and in a range of environments," said lead author Karol Bacik, who conducted the experiments as a PhD student in the Cambridge's Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics (DAMTP). "By revealing the physics behind dune-obstacle interactions, this work gives us the guiding principles we need to divert or halt dunes -- mitigating damage."
As deserts continue to expand, sand dunes pose an increasing risk to the built environment: swallowing up roads and houses whole as they engulf the land. In a similar way, dunes on the seabed can block shipping routes and even compromise the safety of underwater cables and pipelines.
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