Abstract

Co-authors: Robert Murtagh (Trinity College Dublin), David Whyte (Trinity College Dublin), Steve Tobin (Trinity College Dublin), Denis Weaire (Trinity College Dublin)

We develop the Z-Cone Model, in terms of which the energy of a foam may be estimated. It is directly applicable to a structure in which every bubble has Z equivalent neighbours, but can be applied more approximately to other cases.The energy (i.e. surface area) may be analytically related to liquid fraction. It has the correct asymptotic form in the limits of dry and wet foam, with pre-factors dependent on Z. In particular, the variation of energy with compression in the wet limit is consistent with the anomalous behaviour found by Morse and Witten (1993) and Lacasse et al.(1996), with a prefactor proportional to Z.