Ripples in tapped or blown powder

We observe ripples forming on the surface of a granular powder in a container submitted from below to a series of brief and distinct shocks. After a few taps, the pattern turns out to be stable against any further shock of the same amplitude. We find that the wavelength of the pattern is proportional to the amplitude of the shocks. Starting from considerations involving air flow through the porous granulate and avalanche properties, we build up a semiquantitative model which satisfactorily fits the set of experimental observations of either tapped or blown powder.