Singing sands, musical grains and booming sand dunes

Abstract

The origin of the acoustic emissions from a bed of musical grains, impacted by a pestle, is sought in a boundary layer at the leading front of the pestle. The frequencies of the shear modes of vibration in such a layer are compared with the observed frequencies. It is assumed that such a layer is the result of the fluidization of the grain asperities due to the high stress level at the front end. Such a boundary layer can also account for the emissions from plates of sand sliding on a dune surface and from grains shaken in a jar.