The impact process in aeolian saltation: two‐dimensional simulations

A critical event in the trajectory of a sand grain saltating in air is its interaction with the surface. We examine the phenomenon of grain‐bed impacts in two dimensions using a combination of dynamical computer simulations, analytical models and physical reasoning. The results indicate that the grain‐bed collisions can be treated as two‐body collisions with the bed particle assuming an effective mass greater than its true mass. Also, the presence of geometrical surface irregularities has a strong bearing on the interaction between saltating and surface grain populations, as well as on the formation of small‐scale bedforms.