Sedimentation of Nonspherical Particles

The motion of real oblate particles of different cross‐section can be described with sufficient accuracy by equation valid for spheroids. The proof was effected by means of velocity measurements. The application of theoretical considerations to sedimentation analysis allows it to be used to calculate apparent distributions occurring in the sedimentation of monodisperse particles of uniform shape at any orientation relative to the direction of sedimentation. The transfer to polydisperse systems involves several difficulties, which can be avoided in part by suitable approximations. In the case of a particle system with a polydisperse distribution of a main axis, but a constant particle shape, it is possible to calculate the resulting apparent distributions and their deviations from those distributions obtained when applying the volume equivalent particle diameter.