The physics of granular materials is interesting from many points of view because they exhibit a wealth of phenomena that have both fluid and solid aspects [C.S. Campbell, Annu. Rev. Fluid. Mech. 22 (1990) 57, H.M. Jaeger, S.R. Nagel, R.P. Behringer, Phys. Today 494 (1996) 32]. Recently a difficult pattern was observed if sand falls in the space between two plates and passes an obstacle [Y. Amarouchene, J.F. Boudet, H. Kellay, Phys. Rev. Lett. 86 (2001) 4286]. The interesting behaviour occurs on top of the obstacle where a dynamic dune with a parabolic tip is formed. Inside this parabola, a triangular region of non- or very slow flowing sand is observed. Using factor analysis it is possible to extract latent parameters from a dynamic process. Applying a three factor model we can clearly identify the inner triangle (1 st factor) and the outer parabolic pattern (3rd factor). The second factor we interpret as shock wave. Most interactions between particles take place in a relatively small region. We show that the pattern formation process depends on the restitution coefficients (particle-particle and particle-obstacle) and also on the particle size. These findings cannot be observed if standard velocity profiles are used to analyse the data. Our findings show, that most interactions take place in a relatively small area correlating with the particle size. If the interactions between different particles and particle-obstacle are elastic the formation of a non-flowing triangular region is more difficult as if inelastic collisions are used. The factor curves also clearly show that a pattern formation process has to be finished, before the next pattern can be formed. (c) 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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