Experimental evidence of flow destabilization in a 2D bidisperse foam

Liquid foam flows in a Hele-Shaw cell were investigated. The plug flow obtained for a monodisperse foam is strongly perturbed in the presence of bubbles whose size is larger than the average bubble size by an order of magnitude at least. The large bubbles migrate faster than the mean flow above a velocity threshold which depends on its size. We evidence experimentally this new instability and, in case of a single large bubble, we compare the large bubble velocity with the prediction deduced from scaling arguments. In case of a bidisperse foam, an attractive interaction between large bubbles induces segregation and the large bubbles organize themselves in columns oriented along the flow. These results allow to identify the main ingredients governing 2D polydisperse foam flows

Dissipative flows of 2D foams

We analyze the flow of a liquid foam between two plates separated by a gap of the order of the bubble size (2D foam). We concentrate on the salient features of the flow that are induced by the presence, in an otherwise monodisperse foam, of a single large bubble whose size is one order of magnitude larger than the average size. We describe a model suited for numerical simulations of flows of 2D foams made up of a large number of bubbles. The numerical results are successfully compared to analytical predictions based on scaling arguments and on continuum medium approximations. When the foam is pushed inside the cell at a controlled rate, two basically different regimes occur: a plug flow is observed at low flux whereas, above a threshold, the large bubble migrates faster than the mean flow. The detailed characterization of the relative velocity of the large bubble is the essential aim of the present paper. The relative velocity values, predicted both from numerical and from analytical calculations that are discussed here in great detail, are found to be in fair agreement with experimental results

Viscous instabilities in flowing foams: A Cellular Potts Model approach

The Cellular Potts Model (CPM) succesfully simulates drainage and shear in foams. Here we use the CPM to investigate instabilities due to the flow of a single large bubble in a dry, monodisperse two-dimensional flowing foam. As in experiments in a Hele-Shaw cell, above a threshold velocity the large bubble moves faster than the mean flow. Our simulations reproduce analytical and experimental predictions for the velocity threshold and the relative velocity of the large bubble, demonstrating the utility of the CPM in foam rheology studies.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures. Replaced with revised version accepted for publication in JSTA