Mon March 10th 2014
14:00
ZH286
Seminar The Physics of Beer Foaming-Up
Javier Rodríguez Rodríguez

Details:

Besides the obvious interest in the field of recreative physics -which initially attracted our attention to the problem- understanding the formation of foam in a supersaturated carbonated liquid after an impact on the container involves the careful physical description of a number of processes of great interest in bubble dynamics and multiphase flows in general. In order of appearance in this problem: strong pressure wave propagation in bubbly liquids, bubble-bubble interaction in clusters, bubble collapse and break-up, diffusive bubble-liquid mass transfer and the dynamics of bubble-laden plumes. As a matter of fact, very similar physical phenomena are found in the study of oil reservoirs using seismic waves or in the formation of mud volcanoes. In this talk, we will present experimental results showing that the overall foaming-up process can be divided into three well-defined stages dominated by different physical effects and occurring in different time-scales. Namely, cavitation and bubble collapse, diffusion-driven growth of bubble clouds and buoyancy-driven autocatalytic bubble plumes. Besides the experiments, quantitative analyses of these stages is presented.
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