Plowing of granular surface by a vertical blade

The interaction of a blade with a layer of fluid is an important industrial problem involved in coating of substrates, removing of snow, plowing the fields for agriculture.~Most experimental and theoretical work has focused on the drag and lift forces on plowing blade as it is dragged on a granular surface or studying the flow of the fluid while plowing. However the study of~deformation of a granular surface by a vertical plow blade~has received less attention, despite significant practical and fundamental implications. In this study, we investigate experimentally the behavior of a granular substrate as a vertical plow blade of finite width is translated at constant speed. The vertical blade~directs the granular material outward and sand piles form on either sides.~We characterize the dynamics of plowing by measuring and rationalizing the influence of the width of the vertical plow blade, the height of the plow blade, and the depth granular substrate.