Foam drainage wave coalescing and its energy evolution

Liquid foam is a dense packing of gas bubbles in a small amount of surfactant solution. Liquid drains out of foams until equilibrium is reached due to the compromise between gravity and capillarity, which greatly affects the stability of foam. Based on a series of work on foam structure and drainage we conducted previously, this paper reports the results on coalescence of an original forced drainage wave at a low flow rate with subsequent drainage waves with higher flow rates. The evolutions of viscous energy and surface energy during the process of coalescence are theoretically analyzed.