SEDIMENTATION OF HEXAGONAL FLAKES IN A HALF-SPACE - NUMERICAL PREDICTIONS AND EXPERIMENTS IN STOKES-FLOW

Sedimentation tests were performed on a series of individual, flat, he xagonal particles of varying thicknesses settling in polydimethylsilox ene, a silicone oil with Newtonian behavior. The objective of the work was to assess the reliability of a new numerical method, the Complete d Double Layer Boundary Integral Method, by comparing measured and com puted sedimentation rates of platelets very close to a wall. The numer ical predictions and experimental data were found to be in good agreem ent, thus opening the door to numerical modeling of more complex proce ssing flows.