A simplified analysis of chromatographic-column dynamics based on a si
milarity equation (found experimentally) for outlet chromatograms of s
ize-exclusion columns is developed. A theoretical explanation of the s
imilarity equations is developed in the case of a convection-diffusion
model. A criterion for validating the similarity results is proposed.
As a corollary of the above analysis, an integral method for evaluati
ng the variance is proposed.