Gas and liquid transport in steady-state aqueous foam.

Experiments are performed on the transport of gas and liquid in a column of aqueous foam maintained in steady state by a constant gas flux at the bottom. We measure vertical profiles of the bubble velocities, the bubble radii, and the liquid fraction, for four different gas fluxes. In steady state the bubbles move upwards with constant speed equal to the measured gas flux, which accounts for all transport of gas. The bubbles also coarsen by gas diffusion at a rate that depends on liquid fraction. Away from the bottom, the Plateau border radii are constant. Therefore capillary effects are negligible and the steady-state liquid-fraction profile is set chiefly by the balance of viscous forces and gravity. The flow within the Plateau borders may be modeled with a no-slip boundary condition for our system. These findings provide a simple description of steady-state foams via the coarsening and drainage equations, which can be combined and solved analytically for bubble radius and liquid-fraction profiles.