Abstract
We investigate experimentally the short-range interactions occurring
between two subaqueous barchans. The experiments were conducted in a
water channel of transparent material where controlled grains were
poured inside, and a camera placed on the top acquired images of the
bedforms. We varied the grain types (diameter, density and roundness),
pile masses, transverse distances, water flow rates and initial
conditions. As a result, five different patterns were identified for
both aligned and off-centered configurations and we propose interaction
maps that depend basically on the ratio between the number of grains of
each dune, Shields number and alignment of barchans. In addition, we
show experimental indications that an ejected barchan has roughly the
same mass of the impacting one in some cases, and that in wake-dominated
processes the asymmetry of the downstream dune is large. The present
results shed light on the size regulation of barchans found on Earth and
other planets.