  The wall shear rate distribution P(gamma) is investigated for pressure-driven
Stokes flow through random arrangements of spheres at packing fractions 0.1 <=
phi <= 0.64. For dense packings, P(gamma) is monotonic and approximately
exponential. As phi --> 0.1, P(gamma) picks up additional structure which
corresponds to the flow around isolated spheres, for which an exact result can
be obtained. A simple expression for the mean wall shear rate is presented,
based on a force-balance argument.
