Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting from Aeolian Sand Abrasion on Desert-Based Pillar Arrays

The deployment of autonomous, low-power electronic systems in remote and harsh environments necessitates the development of localized, persistent power sources. This paper introduces and theoretically investigates a novel energy harvesting concept designed specifically for arid, desert regions by harnessing the kinetic energy of Aeolian (wind-driven) sand flow. We propose an array of vertically-oriented piezoelectric pillars that convert mechanical vibrations into useful electrical energy through two coupled mechanisms: (۱) low-frequency, high-amplitude vibrations induced by aerodynamic vortex shedding from the pillars, and (۲) high-frequency, low-amplitude stochastic excitations generated by the continuous impact and abrasion of saltating sand particles. A comprehensive multiphysics model is developed, integrating principles of fluid-structure interaction for vortex-induced vibrations (VIV), stochastic mechanics for particle impacts, and coupled electro-mechanical constitutive laws for the piezoelectric transduction. The model estimates the total mechanical strain energy induced in a pillar and subsequently calculates the potential electrical power output. A parametric analysis is performed to explore the influence of key design parameters (pillar geometry, material properties) and environmental conditions (wind velocity, sand flux density) on the system’s performance. The theoretical results suggest that while VIV provides a baseline power source, the contribution from sand particle impacts becomes a significant and potentially dominant energy source in environments with high sand flux, establishing the feasibility of this untapped ambient energy source for powering remote sensor networks.

کلیدواژه ها:

Energy harvesting ، piezoelectric ، Aeolian sand ، vortex-induced vibrations (VIV) ، stochastic excitation ، desert environment ، multiphysics modeling