Ordered polyhedral foams in tubes with circular, triangular and square cross-section

Abstract

Soap bubbles of equal volume readily crystallize as ordered polyhedral foam structures when introduced into tubes whose width is of the same order as the bubble diameter. In the past a large number of these structures have been identified experimentally for cylindrical tubes. The surface energy per bubble was computed using Ken Brakke's Surface Evolver software. We have now extended this work to tubes with square and triangular cross-section and present both experimental data and results of Surface Evolver calculations for a variety of new ordered foam structures. The result is a catalogue of all structures for which simulation results exist.