September 2025

Featured in Dry Cargo International: The Glitter Effect: Stopping the Spread of Dust

We’re excited to share that WeatherSolve Structures has been prominently featured in the September 2025 issue of Dry Cargo International. The article, titled “The Glitter Effect: Stopping the spread of dust,” spotlights WeatherSolve’s engineered solutions by humorously comparing industrial dust to glitter—a substance that is “very hard to contain once it’s loose”. The editorial establishes the wind fence as the industrial equivalent of a “professional glitter wrangler” that stops dust from causing chaos.

The editorial emphasizes that since industrial dust is such an “amazing escape artist,” there’s no room for guesswork. Wind fences must be thoughtfully positioned to slow wind, prevent particle uptake, and allow airborne dust to settle, all while ensuring site operations, nearby communities, and the environment are protected.

Proven Results: Wrangling Wayward Particles

The feature explains how a well-designed wind fence physically wrangles dust in two key ways:

  • Upwind Fence: Reduces the wind speed behind the fence, creating a “calmed area” or “sheltered zone”. In this zone, the amount of dust picked up and carried away by the wind is reduced by approximately 50-80%.
  • Downwind Fence: Acts as a catch fence to physically stop airborne dust from leaving the site. Approximately 70% of moving dust is caught, and about half of what passes through settles just past the fence.

WeatherSolve in Action

The article highlights a project for a site using plant fiber leftovers as biofuel. The existing control system, which used solid-walled bunkers, was not effective for dust control because solid walls created high-turbulence zones that accelerated and swirled the lightweight, low-density fibrous material, making it highly prone to being carried away (the “Glitter Effect”).

The WeatherSolve team used computer simulations to analyze the wind and particle behavior. They designed and installed a fence covering 3.5 sides of the pile (to account for a small range of wind directions) with varying heights.

  • One section acted as an upwind fence to reduce wind speeds.
  • A second section acted as a downwind fence to catch airborne particles.

The result was a huge success: the fence saved valuable fuel from blowing away and stopped dust from bothering the nearby residential community.

This success story emphasizes that taking a deep dive into the unique combination of factors at each site is essential to delivering effective, real-world results.

Read the full feature on page 71 of the September 2025 issue of Dry Cargo International to learn more about how WeatherSolve wrangles the “Glitter Effect” for industrial dust control.