2026-07-072026-07-07http://salesiana.dossiersoluciones.com/handle/123456789/116985In this paper, the effects of interfacial tension between the sediment solid particle and liquid on the settlement of sediment flocs are investigated. After a discussion of mechanical and physical chemistry, we give a settling velocity expression including such dynamical information of the floc growth as interfacial tension and primary particle size \textit{etc.}. The resulting expression indicates the average settling velocity of sediment flocs increases with increasing solid-liquid interfacial tension in a form of power law and deceases with the primary particle size. We report on a general method for analyzing settling behaviors of sediment flocs under different flocculation conditions and verify the rationality of the assumption of tension-induced flocculation by fitting typical experimental data to the electrolyte concentration-dependent sedimentation model which can follow from the relationship between interfacial tension and electrolyte concentration.7 pages, 2 figures, and 1 tableFluid DynamicsChemical Physicstext