Abstract: This study analyzed the deposited sand masses and their spatial distributions in two nylon mesh sand barriers with four different horizontal spaces of 2H、5H、10H and 15H (H represents the distance between two nylon meshes). A sand-control experiment was set up in an inter-dune flat sand sheet in the central Taklimakan Desert. The results showed that there was a weak and negative linear correlation between the deposited sand mass and the distance between two nylon meshes. The meshes of 2H and 5H blocked the largest amount of sand masses while the meshes of 10H blocked the smallest amount of the sand masses. The meshes of 15H blocked the media amount of the sand masses. The results of the experiment were different with what were believed in general. The spatial distribution patterns of the deposited sand masses were obviously varied with the distances between the meshes. The sand masses were mainly deposited at the downwind position in the 2H meshes while the sand masses were blocked in between the meshes and at the downwind positions in 5H, 10H and 15H meshes. The amount of blocked sand masses at the windward side and at the downwind position had negative correlations with the distances between the meshes. However, the blocked sand masses in between the two meshes had positive correlations with the distances between the nylon meshes. The near-surface flow structure affected the amount and the spatial distributions of the sand masses blocked by the nylon meshes but the mechanism of the differentiation was needed to be explored further in the future.

Key words: deposited sand mass, intervals of combinated models, nylon mesh san barrier, Taklimakan Desert