A two-species continuum model for aeolian sand ripples

Abstract

We formulate a continuum model for aeolian sand ripples consisting of two species of grains: a lower layer of relatively immobile clusters, with an upper layer of highly mobile grains moving on top. We predict analytically the ripple wavelength, initial ripple growth rate and threshold saltation flux for ripple formation. Numerical simulations show the evolution of realistic ripple profiles from initial surface roughness via ripple growth and merger.

9 pages, 3 figures

References in corpus (2)

• Nonlinear Dynamics of Aeolian Sand Ripples
• Smoothing of sandpile surfaces after intermittent and continuous avalanches: three models in search of an experiment

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• Surface instabilities in granular matter and ion-sputtered surfaces
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• A two-species model of a two-dimensional sandpile surface: a case of asymptotic roughening