Abstract <p>The problem of viscous fluid flow along a flat solid surface with a stationary granular layer lying on it is considered. The layer has the form of an infinite rectangular barrier and consists of an infinite number of identical spherical granules that are statistically uniformly distributed in the layer. The problem is solved using a previously developed self-consistent field method, which allows one to study the effects of hydrodynamic interaction of a large number of spherical particles in viscous fluid flows, including in the presence of external boundaries, and to obtain averaged dynamic characteristics of such flows. The solution to the problem describing the averaged fluid velocity field both outside and inside the granular layer is obtained in analytical form in the first approximation with respect to the particle volume fraction in the layer. As a result, a characteristic feature of the fluid flow in the form of a large-scale stationary vortex containing the entire layer is obtained.</p>