Results in the literature show that a granular film appears from a dense granular jet impacting on a circular target under certain conditions (Cheng X, Varas G, Citron D, Jaeger HM, Nagel SR, Phys Rev Lett. 2007; 99(18): 188001). In current study, granular jet impacts are experimentally studied using a high-speed camera, and interesting liquid-like wave structures on the granular film are observed with increasing granular jet velocities or decreasing solid fractions of granular jets. Effects of the particle diameter, the granular jet velocity, and the solid fraction of granular jet on the wave structures are investigated. The dynamic characteristics of granular wave such as the wave frequency and velocity are demonstrated and compared with the liquid jet impact. Results reveal that increasing pushing pressure enhances the gas-particle interaction inside the nozzle, which causes the granular jet instability and further gives rise to the granular wave at lower solid fractions and higher granular jet velocities. (c) 2017 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE