Abstract
We introduce order parameter models for describing the dynamics of sand ripple patterns under oscillatory flow. A crucial ingredient of these models is the mass transport between adjacent ripples, which we obtain from detailed numerical simulations for a range of ripple sizes. Using this mass transport function, our models predict the existence of a stable band of wave numbers limited by secondary instabilities. Small ripples coarsen in our models and this process leads to a sharply selected final wave number, in agreement with experimental observations.
- Received 30 March 2000
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.63.066308
©2001 American Physical Society