Sedimentation of a colloidal monolayer down an inclined plane

We study the driven collective dynamics of a colloidal monolayer sedimenting down an inclined plane. The action of the gravity force parallel to the bottom wall creates a flow around each colloid, and the hydrodynamic interactions among the colloids accelerate the sedimentation as the local density increases. This leads to the creation of a universal triangular inhomogeneous density profile, with a traveling density shock at the leading front moving in the downhill direction. Unlike density shocks in a colloidal monolayer driven by applied torques rather than forces [Phys. Rev. Fluids 2, 092301(R) (2017)], the density front during sedimentation remains stable over long periods of time even though it develops a roughness on the order of tens of particle diameters. Through experimental measurements and particle-based computer simulations, we find that the Burgers equation can model the density profile along the sedimentation direction as a function of time remarkably well, with a modest improvement if the nonlinear conservation law accounts for the sublinear dependence of the collective sedimentation velocity on density.

Automated summary

The study investigates the driven collective dynamics of a colloidal monolayer sedimenting down an inclined plane, leading to the formation of a triangular inhomogeneous density profile with a traveling density shock at the leading front. Through experimental measurements and particle-based computer simulations, it is found that the Burgers equation can model the density profile along the sedimentation direction remarkably well, with a modest improvement when accounting for the sublinear dependence of the collective sedimentation velocity on density.