Formation and transport of granular heaps in vertically vibrated containers with periodic corrugated bottoms

We report the formation and transportation of granular heaps in vertically vibrated containers with two types of periodic corrugated bottoms: one with a periodic array of ten identical plexiglas rectangles mounted (named the periodic container), and the other with a single-step (named the single-step con-tainer). For the periodic container, when the excitation was weaker, several small heaps formed, and the number of them was the same as that of the rectangles on the bottom. As the excitation increased, the system presented three types of states: single well-defined heap, weaker wave, and stronger wave. Some local convections were observed in the interior of heap. For the single-step container, we ob-served the transportation of a heap toward step. We propose that the compressive force from the am-bient gas plays a crucial role in the movement of the heap.