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Thickness profiles of giant soap films

Marina Pasquet, Frédéric Restagno, Isabelle Cantat, and Emmanuelle Rio
Phys. Rev. Fluids 8, 034001 – Published 24 March 2023

Abstract

Production, drainage, and stability of foam films, i.e., films in contact with their menisci, are fascinating problems that remain still unsolved. In this article, we propose to explore the regime of large velocities and large film sizes. This is not accessible in experiments classically conducted in the literature and allows us to study the regime of large extension and large extension rates. With our setup, we make soap films up to 2 m high by pulling a horizontal fishing line driven by belts out of a soapy solution at velocities ranging from 20 cm/s to 250 cm/s. We characterize the thickness profile of the central part of the film that behaves like a rubber band under tension. We show that its thickness profile is well described by a static model in which a homogeneous elastic film is stretched by its own weight. This leads to an exponential thickness profile with a characteristic length given by a competition between gravity and surface elasticity. The prefactor is fixed by the shape and area of the film, governed by the fishing line motion but also by a continuous extraction of foam film from the lateral menisci, thicker than the central part, and that progressively invades the film from its lateral boundaries. The model we propose captures the subtle interplay between gravity, film elasticity, and film extraction and leads to predictions in good agreement with our experimental data.

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  • Received 19 July 2022
  • Accepted 2 February 2023

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevFluids.8.034001

©2023 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Fluid Dynamics

Authors & Affiliations

Marina Pasquet1, Frédéric Restagno1, Isabelle Cantat2, and Emmanuelle Rio1

  • 1Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, Laboratoire de Physique des Solides, 91405, Orsay, France
  • 2Université de Rennes, CNRS, IPR (Institut de Physique de Rennes)–UMR 6251, 35000 Rennes, France

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Vol. 8, Iss. 3 — March 2023

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