An innovative approach for measuring wind fields in urban building clusters using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) is presented. This method captures the distribution of wind fields within clusters. The results indicate that building architecture has a significant influence on wind flow characteristics at 15 m and 25 m height levels. Particularly, areas adjacent to the buildings and the wake section exhibit notable variations in wind speed and turbulence intensity compared to the incoming flow. The regions most affected include the areas flanking the buildings on either side and the intermediate section of the wake. The flow separation and convergence of incoming wind from the windward sides of the buildings notably amplify the wind load, resulting in a significant shift in wind speed and turbulence intensity within pedestrian pathways. The use of UAVs for wind measurements enables a flexible and efficient assessment of urban wind fields. These findings pave the way for further research into wind field measurements in urban architecture and a better understanding of the interference effects of buildings.

In aeolian sand movement, the vertical distribution of sand particle size is intricately linked to sand flux, wind–sand flow field and dune development. In the present study, the distribution characteristics of sand grains in four particle size ranges at nine heights were investigated through sand blowing tests at five different reference wind speeds. The correlation between sand particle size and wind speed indicates that when the particle size was ≥0.35 mm, there was a linear variation of mass percentage with wind speed. When the particle size was 0.15 m, an exponential modification in mass percentage with wind velocity was observed for sand grains falling within this specific range of particle sizes. The correlation between sand particle size and height indicates that when the reference wind speed was ≥15 m/s, the mass percentage of sand particles varied linearly with height. When the reference wind speed was ≤13.5 m/s, the mass percentage of sand grains with particle size in the 0.25–0.35 mm range increases first and then decreases with increasing height. The present results can provide a reference for subsequent research on the aerodynamic characteristics of wind–sand flow fields and on the mechanism of dune formation.

To study the sandstorm resistance design of civil structures and transportation infrastructures, the sandstorm flow fields with various grain concentrations were simulated by the windblown sand tunnel. The results show that the grain concentration profile presents an exponential decay form before the critical wind speed; as the test speed increases, the grain concentration decreases initially and increases afterwards with height, and the characteristic height of moving grain increases while the creep percentage decreases. Moving sand grains reduce wind speed and increase turbulence intensity, and the whole process is affected by grain concentration. The moving grain and the turbulence of the sandstorm flow field form a mutual feedback mechanism, which affects the wind-induced response and impact response to structures. The variation of kinetic energy with height is similar to that of total energy with height in the sandstorm flow fields. Specifically, the grain energy increases with increasing concentration and wind speed, but decreases initially and increases afterwards with height. Furthermore, the critical heights of the grain energy and concentration profile are both about 0.2 m, which has little impact on structures.