Dynamics and stationary configurations of heterogeneous foams

PLoS One. 2019 Apr 29;14(4):e0215836. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0215836. eCollection 2019.

Abstract

We consider the variational foam model, where the goal is to minimize the total surface area of a collection of bubbles subject to the constraint that the volume of each bubble is prescribed. We apply sharp interface methods to develop an efficient computational method for this problem. In addition to simulating time dynamics, we also report on stationary states of this flow for ≤ 21 bubbles in two dimensions and ≤ 17 bubbles in three dimensions. For small numbers of bubbles, we recover known analytical results, which we briefly discuss. In two dimensions, we also recover previous numerical results, computed using other methods. Particular attention is given to locally optimal foam configurations and heterogeneous foams, where the volumes of the bubbles are not equal. Configurational transitions are reported for the quasi-stationary flow where the volume of one of the bubbles is varied and, for each volume, the stationary state is computed. The results from these numerical experiments are described and accompanied by many figures and videos.

Publication types

  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Algorithms
  • Models, Theoretical*
  • Numerical Analysis, Computer-Assisted
  • Thermodynamics

Grants and funding

Author B.O. received partial support from NSF, grants DMS 16-19755 and DMS 17-52202. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.