Hitting a bottle of beer from the top,

what is the physics behind the foam overflow?

The well known prank consisting in hitting a bottle of beer from the top and hereby cause a foam overflow will be investigated using both experimental and theoretical fluid mechanics. A preliminary intuition of the mechanism behind this effect is the following chain of events: the acceleration imposed by the operator causes a large pressure drop that leads to an important CO2 release in the bottom creating the bubbles that end up forming the foam that  flows out from the bottle.

The study of the different physical ingredients  gathered in the stated mechanism may in turn be applied to predict and understand natural geophysical activities (Lake Mounon and Lyos 1986 disaster). Additionally the pressure drop linked to bubble formation and raise are important features of the typical bubble mechanics  that is relevant in the development of new industrial and medical applications (Lohse 2003, Bubble Puzzles) .

The idea is to study this phenomena first experimentally, creating the adequate setup and using high speed camera. In addition, an analytical and numerical study can be performed to help generate a clear understanding of the physics involved.

Advisor: Vladislav Mantic Lugo