1 Introduction ................................................. 1
1.1 The challenge of working with foam ...................... 1
1.2 Generation and disintegration of foam ................... 1
1.3 Metal foam .............................................. 4
1.4 Metal foam fabrication .................................. 5
1.5 Measurement versus simulation ........................... 6
1.6 Material properties ..................................... 7
2 The multiphase code .......................................... 9
2.1 Capabilities of the code ................................ 9
2.2 The fluid solver ........................................ 9
2.3 Immersed-Boundary method ............................... 10
2.4 Simulation of magnetohydrodynamics ..................... 11
3 Collision modelling ......................................... 15
3.1 Motivation ............................................. 15
3.2 Basic collision modelling .............................. 15
3.3 Other types of collision modelling ..................... 17
3.4 Advanced collision model ............................... 18
3.5 Testing and experimental validation .................... 30
3.6 Conclusions ............................................ 34
4 Rise and agglomeration of bubbles ........................... 37
4.1 Motivation ............................................. 37
4.2 Rise of a single bubble ................................ 37
4.3 Static drainage ........................................ 40
4.4 Agglomerated regime .................................... 41
4.5 Floating regime ........................................ 42
4.6 Structure formation .................................... 44
4.7 Conclusions ............................................ 45
5 Bubble crystals ............................................. 49
5.1 Motivation ............................................. 49
5.2 Setup .................................................. 51
5.3 Quantification of crystalline order .................... 52
5.1 Hydrodynamic effects in bubble agglomeration ........... 54
5.5 Mechanical stability ................................... 54
5.6 Experimental reproduction .............................. 58
5.7 Conclusions ............................................ 59
6 Mechanical properties of solid foam ......................... 63
6.1 Motivation ............................................. 63
6.2 Definition of sphere structures ........................ 64
6.3 Homogenisation and elastic properties .................. 66
6.4 The Finite-Element method .............................. 67
6.5 Validation ............................................. 67
6.6 General comparison of Young's moduli ................... 70
6.7 Comparison of cubic structures ......................... 70
6.8 Comparison of hexagonal structures ..................... 70
6.9 Conclusions ............................................ 75
7 Manipulation of foam with magnetic fields ................... 77
7.1 Motivation ............................................. 77
7.2 Setup .................................................. 78
7.3 Results ................................................ 79
7.4 Conclusions ............................................ 84
8 Manipulation of foam with electromagnetic fields ............ 87
8.1 Motivation ............................................. 87
8.2 Physical background .................................... 87
8.3 Setup .................................................. 89
8.4 Behaviour of a single bubble ........................... 90
8.5 Interaction between a pair of bubbles .................. 94
8.6 Manipulation of bubble clusters ........................ 96
8.7 Artificial bubble distribution ......................... 99
8.8 Conclusions ........................................... 101
9 Influence on foam structure ................................ 105
9.1 Motivation ............................................ 105
9.2 Setup ................................................. 105
9.3 Results ............................................... 106
9.4 Conclusions ........................................... 110
10 Concluding remarks ......................................... 113
11 Appendix ................................................... 129
11.1 Symbols ............................................... 129
11.2 The author's publications ............................. 133
Student theses ................................................ 136
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