Analysis of a sedimenting suspension near a vertical wall

Abstract

We consider a sedimenting suspension in a Stokes flow, in the presence of a vertical wall. We study the effect of a particle-depleted fluid layer near the wall on the bulk dynamics of the suspension. We show that this effect can be captured by an appropriate wall law of Navier type. We provide in this way a rigorous justification of the apparent slip observed in many experiments. We also discuss the phenomenon of intrinsic convection predicted in some physics articles.