Sand Ripples Induced by Water Shear Flow in an Annular Channel

Abstract
We have studied experimentally the formation and evolution of sand ripples under water shear flow in a narrow annular channel. The amplitude of the sediment ripples vanishes at a critical value of the shear rate. Near this onset, a band of Fourier modes can be described by exponential growth functions. The growth rates vary linearly with the shear rate. On longer times the sand ripples display complex dynamics.

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