  This manuscript proposes an analytical model and a simple experimental
methodology to estimate the effective settling velocity of very fine sediments
at high concentrations. A system of two coupled ordinary differential equations
for the time evolution of the bed height and the suspended sediment
concentration is derived from the sediment mass balance equation. The solution
of the system depends on the settling velocity, which can be then estimated by
confronting the solution with the observations from laboratory experiments. The
experiments involved measurements of the bed height in time using low-tech
equipment often available in general physics labs. This methodology is apt for
introductory courses of fluids and soil physics and illustrates sediment
transport dynamics common in many environmental systems.

Fluid Dynamics