Abstract:To analyze the relations between the sand transport rate andthe forcing wind, a high sampling frequency is necessary for themeasurement of the wind velocity and the sand transport rate. This paper reviews the development ofmeasurement techniques related to wind-sand flows in pastseveral decades. Merits and demerits of conventional measurement devices forthe wind velocity and the sand transport rate are discussed in detail. Moreover,the Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV), a new optical velocity measurementtechnique is specially addressed in this paper, which has great potentialapplications in the wind-sand flow experiment. Based on the PIV technique, not onlythe macro information such as two phase velocity field of wind and sand,wind sand flow integral structure, but also micro information such assingle grain motion, can be obtained.