Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 1, 2026

Confocal Imaging of Confined Quiescent and Flowing Colloid-polymer Mixtures
Published on: May 21, 2014
Periodic knolls and valleys: coexistence of solid and liquid states in granular suspensions
Nhat-Hang P Duong1, A E Hosoi, Troy Shinbrot
1Department of Chemical & Biochemical Engineering, Rutgers University, 98 Brett Road, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854, USA.
Abstract:
We report the spontaneous emergence of a doubly periodic train of sedimented knolls in a dense suspension. These solidified knolls rise out of, and coexist alongside, a sea of freely flowing liquid in a slowly rotating horizontal bottle. We apply a variable viscosity model that permits simultaneous analysis of fluidlike and solidlike behaviors that are ubiquitous in a variety of sedimenting flows. The model generates qualitative agreement with experiments, and produces new insights into mechanisms by which sedimented structures form.
Related Concept Videos
Molecular and Ionic Solids
Molecular Solids
Molecular crystalline solids, such as ice, sucrose (table sugar), and iodine, are solids that are composed of neutral molecules as their constituent units. These molecules are held together by weak intermolecular forces such as London dispersion forces, dipole-dipole interactions, or hydrogen bonds, which...
Colloids
Colloids and Suspensions
Colloidal precipitates
Liquid–Solid Solutions
The Colloidal State

