The geometry and flow of aqueous foams

Simon Cox (University of Aberystwyth)

Thursday 22nd March, 2018 14:00-15:00 110 Mathematics and Statistics Building

Abstract

(Lunch with the speaker will be at One A The Square, leaving from the school front foyer at 12.45. Please note: This talk will be in room 110, not the usual seminar room.)

In an aqueous foam, gas bubbles are surrounded by a continuous liquid phase, which is often water containing a small amount of surfactant. As a material with high interfacial area, low density, and a yield stress, foams find many engineering applications, from ore separation to varicose vein removal.

The static structure of a foam obeys rigorous geometrical rules, generalizing the isoperimetric problem to multiple domains. I will describe the influence of this geometric structure on the dynamics of foams, concentrating on their non-Newtonian flow characteristics, illustrated by bubble-scale numerical simulations.

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