Accumulating particles at the boundaries of a laminar flow

The accumulation of small particles is analyzed in stationary flows through channels of variable width at small Reynolds number. The combined influence of pressure, viscous drag and thermal fluctuations is described by means of a Fokker-Planck equation for the particle density. It is shown that for extended spherical particles the shape of the fluid domain gives rise to inhomogeneous particle densities, thereby leading to particle accumulation and corresponding depletion. For extended spherical particles, conditions are specified that lead to inhomogeneous densities and consequently to regions with particle accumulation and depletion.