Damping of liquid sloshing by foams: from everyday observations to liquid transport

TL;DR

This study demonstrates that adding foam on top of a liquid significantly dampens sloshing oscillations, offering potential applications in industrial liquid transport to reduce splashing.

Contribution

The paper provides experimental evidence that foam layers effectively damp liquid sloshing, a novel approach for controlling liquid dynamics in transport.

Findings

Foam reduces oscillation amplitude of liquid in a container.

Foam presence decreases splashing during liquid motion.

Damping effect observed across different liquid and foam conditions.

Abstract

We perform experiments on the sloshing dynamics of liquids in a rectangular container submitted to an impulse. We show that when foam is placed on top of the liquid the oscillations of the free interface are significantly damped. The ability to reduce sloshing and associated splashing could find applications in numerous industrial processes involving liquid transport.