Sedimentation velocity is particularly valuable for:
verifying whether a sample is entirely homogeneous in mass and conformation
detecting aggregates in protein samples and quantifying the amount of aggregate
comparing the conformations for samples from different lots, manufacturing processes, or expression systems (comparability studies), or comparing different engineered variants of the same protein/peptide [see presentations in Further Reading]
establishing whether the native state of a protein or peptide is a monomer, dimer, trimer, etc.
determining the overall shape of non-glycosylated protein and peptide molecules in solution (are they approximately spherical or highly extended and rod-like?)
measuring the distribution of sizes in samples which contain a very broad range of sizes
detecting changes in protein conformation, for example partial unfolding or transitions to "molten globule" states
studying the formation and stoichiometry of tight complexes between proteins (for example receptor-ligand or antigen-antibody complexes)