When an interface between two fluids moves in contact with a solid boundary, the Navier-Stokes equations and the no-slip boundary condition provide an unsatisfactory theoretical model, because they predict an undefined velocity at the contact line and a non-integrable stress on the solid boundary. If the surface irregularities are included in the model, the flow on a length scale large compared with their size can be calculated, using a slip coefficient and treating the surface as smooth.

A simple type of corrugated surface is examined, and the effective slip coefficient calculated, for grooves of finite and infinite depth. The slip coefficient when the grooves are filled with one fluid and another fluid flows over them is also calculated. It is suggested that, when a fluid displaces another on a rough surface, the displaced fluid remains in the hollows on the surface, thus providing a partly fluid boundary for the displacing fluid and leading to a slip coefficient for the flow.

Fluid contained between two vertical plates and rising between them provides a simple example of a flow for which the solution can be found with and without a slip coefficient. With slip present, the force on the plates is finite and its value is calculated.