 The Kelvin Problem by Denis Weaire |
 by
Tomaso Aste & Denis Weaire |
Welcome to the Foams & Complex Systems Research Group home page.
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Nov 2011 - First realisation of Weaire-Phelan structure in experiment. Foam bubbles finally brought to order
News from Trinity College Dublin announces the first fabrication of the
Weaire-Phelan foam, a celebrated theoretical concept not previously
realised in the laboratory.
Pictured: Photograph of a Weaire-Phelan foam in experiment. Kelvin's answer to his challenge (posed for bubbles of equal size) took the form of a simple crystal structure. This was just a guess, but a good one, cleverly worked out by the great man. His generous spirit would have been gratified by the eventual discovery, by Denis Weaire and Robert Phelan, of another structure of lower energy than his. This was computed in 1994 in Trinity College Dublin, with the help of the software of Kenneth Brakke. But they could not make the new foam. Nevertheless their hypothetical foam attained truly iconic status when used to design the striking Water Cube aquatic centre for the Beijing Olympics. Many millions have admired its elegant framework of steel beams, which follow the pattern of the ideal foam. Now it exists in reality, thanks to the work of a team led by Ruggero Gabbrielli, in an SFI-funded visit to Trinity from the University of Trento. Recognising that previous failures could be put down to the shape of the containers used, he designed with Brakke a receptacle whose walls had an intricate form that would encourage and accommodate the Weaire-Phelan bubbles. It was made in Trinity's CRANN nanotechology centre and proved an instant success when bubbles of the right size were introduced into it. Interviews explaining the discovery of the Weaire-Phelan foam.
"Wonderful!" says Weaire, "We shall call this the Italian Job. It opens up a lot of further possibilities." Could the new foam be of any practical use? "Not immediately", says Stefan Hutzler, head of the research group in the School of Physics, "Let's just admire its extraordinary beauty first... But in solidified form and on various scales, such exotic ordered foams could find applications as chemical filters, heat exchangers and optical components." "It'd be interesting to come up with a proof of optimality", Ruggero says, "Scientists have been looking at this problem for quite a while, but a rigorous result is still missing". The paper reporting the fabrication of the Weaire-Phelan structure was accepted for publication in the time-honoured Philosophical Magazine Letters on the 25th of November 2011 and published in January 2012 (Article available here). Incidentally, this is the same journal in which both Kelvin (in 1887) and Weaire and Phelan (in 1993) published their work on the structure of ideal foam.  Pictured: Prof. Denis Weaire, Aaron Meagher, Dr. Ruggero Gabbrielli and Prof. Stefan Hutzler with a sculpture of the Weaire-Phelan structure. |
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Funding for a postgraduate position available (May 2011) 'The influence of magnetic fields on microbubble formation' Dr. Matthias Möbius Application details for this position can be found here |
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Nov 2011 - Media coverage of research in the group on sphere packings Christmas Ornaments, Packed Like Sardines. |
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Aug 2011 - New publication: A public study of the lifetime distribution of soap films in collaboration with the Science Gallery. |
The Foams and Complex Systems group carries out a study concerning the perception of patterns of various degrees of order.
To take part, please click here.
Science
and JewelleryCollaborations of Stefan Hutzler with goldsmith Dougal Hazel.
