ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses suspensions and considers their relationship to granular flows. By a suspension, we typically mean a mixture composed of solid particles within a fluid, under conditions where the particles remain suspended as opposed to settling. For example, under normal gravity environments, a fine sand that settles slowly in water may be readily redispersed by the water flowing over it, and this mixture may be termed a suspension. The same fine sand in air would rapidly settle to form a layer of contacting particles that might still flow, but would be considered a granular flow. A third form is a slurry, defined as a material needing stirring or other agitation to maintain the particles in suspension but whose properties may be otherwise described roughly as suspensions.
