Implementation of Morse–Witten theory for a polydisperse wet 2D foam simulation

ABSTRACT

The Morse–Witten theory provides a formulation for the inter-bubble forces and corresponding deformations in a liquid foam, accurate in the limit of high liquid fraction. Here we show how the theory may be applied in practice, including allowing for polydispersity in the bubble sizes. The resulting equilibrated 2D structures are consistent with direct calculations, within the limitations of the theory. The path to developing a 3D model is outlined for future work.

KEYWORDS:

• 2D foams
• simulation
• wet foams
• Morse–Witten theory

Acknowledgments

DW wishes to acknowledge discussions with Reinhard Höhler and Tom Witten.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

F. F. Dunne http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1856-3966

Additional information

Funding

Research supported in part by a research grant from Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) under grant number 13/IA/1926 and from an Irish Research Council Postgraduate Scholarship (project ID GOIPG/2015/1998). We also acknowledge the COST action MP1305 ‘Flowing matter’ and the European Space Agency ESA MAP Metalfoam (AO-99-075) and Soft Matter Dynamics (contract: 4000115113).