A kinematic wave description of ripple development on sand-blasted ductile solids

Abstract

The evolution of a sand-blasted solid surface through a random periodic structure to a coherent moving transverse wave or ripple structure is discussed in general terms by using the theory of kinematic waves. In such wave processes the local velocity is a function of local parameters such as elevation and slope, and it is shown how a stable ripple structure may ensue in which the component velocities of the wave are minimized with respect to neighbouring values. © 1984.