Degenerate two-phase incompressible flow III. Sharp error estimates

Summary. This is the third paper of a series in which we analyze mathematical properties and develop numerical methods for a degenerate elliptic-parabolic partial differential system which describes the flow of two incompressible, immiscible fluids in porous media. In this paper we consider a finite element approximation for this system. The elliptic equation for the pressure and velocity is approximated by a mixed finite element method, while the degenerate parabolic equation for the saturation is approximated by a Galerkin finite element method. A fully discrete approximation is analyzed. Sharp error estimates in energy norms are obtained for this approximation. The error analysis does not use any regularization of the saturation equation; the error estimates are derived directly from the degenerate equation. Also, the analysis does not impose any restriction on the nature of degeneracy. Finally, it respects the minimal regularity on the solution of the differential system. Received March 9, 1998 / Revised version received July 17, 2000 / Published online May 30, 2001     

On the irrotational approximation to steady supersonic flow

Under the hypothesis that the initial perturbation has small BV norm, we prove that in any bounded domain the L¹ norm of the difference between solutions to the isentropic Euler system of steady supersonic flow and the system of steady irrotational supersonic flow with the same initial data can be bounded by the cube of the total variation of the initial perturbation.     

Degenerate two-phase incompressible flow II: regularity, stability and stabilization

In this paper, we analyze a coupled system of highly degenerate elliptic-parabolic partial differential equations for two-phase incompressible flow in porous media. This system involves a saturation and a global pressure (or a total flow velocity). First, we show that the saturation is Hölder continuous both in space and time and the total velocity is Hölder continuous in space (uniformly in time). Applying this regularity result, we then establish the stability of the saturation and pressure with respect to initial and boundary data, from which uniqueness of the solution to the system follows. Finally, we establish a stabilization result on the asymptotic behavior of the saturation and pressure; we prove that the solution to the present system converges (in appropriate norms) to the solution of a stationary system as time goes to infinity. An example is given to show typical regularity of the saturation.     

The IVP for the dispersion generalized Benjamin–Ono equation in weighted Sobolev spaces

We study the initial value problem associated to the dispersion generalized Benjamin–Ono equation. Our aim is to establish persistence properties of the solution flow in weighted Sobolev spaces and to deduce from them some sharp unique continuation properties of solutions to this equation. In particular, we shall establish optimal decay rate for the solutions of this model.     

Sobolev estimates for (pseudo)‐differential operators and applications

In this work we show that if is a linear differential operator of order ν with smooth complex coefficients in from a complex vector space E to a complex vector space F, the Sobolev a priori estimate holds locally at any point if and only if is elliptic and the constant coefficient homogeneous operator is canceling in the sense of Van Schaftingen for every which means that Here is the homogeneous part of order ν of and is the principal symbol of . This result implies and unifies the proofs of several estimates for complexes and pseudo‐complexes of operators of order one or higher proved recently by other methods as well as it extends —in the local setup— the characterization of Van Schaftingen to operators with variable coefficients.     

Monotonicity of control volume methods

Robustness of numerical methods for multiphase flow problems in porous media is important for development of methods to be used in a wide range of applications. Here, we discuss monotonicity for a simplified problem of single-phase flow, but where the simulation grids and media are allowed to be general, posing challenges to control-volume methods. We discuss discrete formulations of the maximum principle and derive sufficient criteria for discrete monotonicity for arbitrary nine-point control-volume discretizations for conforming quadrilateral grids in 2D. These criteria are less restrictive than the M-matrix property. It is shown that it is impossible to construct nine-point methods which unconditionally satisfy the monotonicity criteria when the discretization satisfies local conservation and exact reproduction of linear potential fields. Numerical examples are presented which show the validity of the criteria for monotonicity. Further, the impact of nonmonotonicity is studied. Different behavior for different discretization methods is illuminated, and simple ideas are presented for improvement in terms of monotonicity.     

The regularity for nonlinear parabolic systems of p-Laplacian type with critical growth

We study the Hölder regularity of weak solutions to the evolutionary p  -Laplacian system with critical growth on the gradient. We establish a natural criterion for proving that a small solution and its gradient are locally Hölder continuous almost everywhere. Actually our regularity result recovers the classical result in the case p=2$p=2$ [16] and can be applied to study the regularity of the heat flow for m-dimensional H-systems as well as the m-harmonic flow.     

A first order projection-based time-splitting scheme for computing chemically reacting flows

Summary. The simulation of chemically reacting flows is a basic tool in natural sciences as well as engineering sciences to understand and predict complex flow phenomena (e.g., concentrations of salt in oceans or crystal growth in semiconductor industries, see e.g. [7, 19]). The objective of this paper is two-fold: First, a first-order time-splitting scheme is presented that allows for efficient parallelization of the related quantities in each time-step. This scheme is based on the decoupled computation of the new velocity-field and pressure iterates by means of Chorin's projection method. Second, a thorough analysis of this scheme is given that leads to optimal error statements which apply to general flow situations. Received February 12, 1998 / Revised version received October 21, 1998 / Published online November 17, 1999     

Non-relativistic global limits of entropy solutions to the isentropic relativistic Euler equations

We consider in this paper the relativistic Euler equations in isentropic fluids with the equation of state p = κ²ρ, where κ, the sound speed, is a constant less than the speed of light c. We discuss the convergence of the entropy solutions as c→∞. The analysis is based on the geometric properties of nonlinear wave curves and the Glimm’s method.     

Stationary isothermic surfaces and some characterizations of the hyperplane in the N-dimensional Euclidean space

We consider the entire graph S of a continuous real function over RN−1 with N?3. Let Ω be a domain in RN with S as a boundary. Consider in Ω the heat flow with initial temperature 0 and boundary temperature 1. The problem we consider is to characterize S in such a way that there exists a stationary isothermic surface in Ω. We show that S must be a hyperplane under some general conditions on S. This is related to Liouville or Bernstein-type theorems for some elliptic Monge-Ampère-type equation.     

Decomposition of submodular functions

A decomposition theory for submodular functions is described. Any such function is shown to have a unique decomposition consisting of indecomposable functions and certain highly decomposable functions, and the latter are completely characterized. Applications include decompositions of hypergraphs based on edge and vertex connectivity, the decomposition of matroids based on three-connectivity, the Gomory—Hu decomposition of flow networks, and Fujishige’s decomposition of symmetric submodular functions. Efficient decomposition algorithms are also discussed.     

Stability of Riemann solutions with large oscillation for the relativistic Euler equations

We are concerned with entropy solutions of the 2×2 relativistic Euler equations for perfect fluids in special relativity. We establish the uniqueness of Riemann solutions in the class of entropy solutions in L^∞∩BV_loc with arbitrarily large oscillation. Our proof for solutions with large oscillation is based on a detailed analysis of global behavior of shock curves in the phase space and on special features of centered rarefaction waves in the physical plane for this system. The uniqueness result does not require specific reference to any particular method for constructing the entropy solutions. Then the uniqueness of Riemann solutions yields their inviscid large-time stability under arbitrarily largeL¹∩L^∞∩BV_loc perturbation of the Riemann initial data, as long as the corresponding solutions are in L^∞ and have local bounded total variation that allows the linear growth in time. We also extend our approach to deal with the uniqueness and stability of Riemann solutions containing vacuum in the class of entropy solutions in L^∞ with arbitrarily large oscillation.     

Existence for a degenerate diffusion problem with a nonlinear operator

We study a degenerate nonlinear variational inequality which can be reduced to a multivalued inclusion by an appropriate change of the unknown function. We establish existence, uniqueness and regularity results. An application arising in the theory of water diffusion in porous media is discussed as an example.      

Instability of standing wave, global existence and blowup for the Klein-Gordon-Zakharov system with different-degree nonlinearities

This paper discusses the Klein-Gordon-Zakharov system with different-degree nonlinearities in two and three space dimensions. Firstly, we prove the existence of standing wave with ground state by applying an intricate variational argument. Next, by introducing an auxiliary functional and an equivalent minimization problem, we obtain two invariant manifolds under the solution flow generated by the Cauchy problem to the aforementioned Klein-Gordon-Zakharov system. Furthermore, by constructing a type of constrained variational problem, utilizing the above two invariant manifolds as well as applying potential well argument and concavity method, we derive a sharp threshold for global existence and blowup. Then, combining the above results, we obtain two conclusions of how small the initial data are for the solution to exist globally by using dilation transformation. Finally, we prove a modified instability of standing wave to the system under study.     

Obstacle problem for nonlinear parabolic equations

We show the existence of a continuous solution to a nonlinear parabolic obstacle problem with a continuous time-dependent obstacle. The solution is constructed by an adaptation of the Schwarz alternating method. Moreover, if the obstacle is Hölder continuous, we prove that the solution inherits the same property.     

On the Single-Source Unsplittable Flow Problem

be a capacitated directed graph with a source s and k terminals with demands , . We would like to concurrently route every demand on a single path from s to the corresponding terminal without violating the capacities. There are several interesting and important variations of this unsplittable flow problem. If the necessary cut condition is satisfied, we show how to compute an unsplittable flow satisfying the demands such that the total flow through any edge exceeds its capacity by at most the maximum demand. For graphs in which all capacities are at least the maximum demand, we therefore obtain an unsplittable flow with congestion at most 2, and this result is best possible. Furthermore, we show that all demands can be routed unsplittably in 5 rounds, i.e., all demands can be collectively satisfied by the union of 5 unsplittable flows. Finally, we show that 22.6% of the total demand can be satisfied unsplittably. These results are extended to the case when the cut condition is not necessarily satisfied. We derive a 2-approximation algorithm for congestion, a 5-approximation algorithm for the number of rounds and a -approximation algorithm for the maximum routable demand. Received: July 12, 1998     

The endomorphism spectrum of an ordered set

Theendomorphism spectrum of an ordered setP, spec(P)={|f(P)|:f End(P)} andspectrum number, sp(P)=max(spec(P)\{|P|}) are introduced. It is shown that |P|>(1/2)n(n – 1) ^{n – 1} implies spec(P) = {1, 2, ...,n} and that if a projective plane of ordern exists, then there is an ordered setP of size 2n ²+2n+2 with spec(P)={1, 2, ..., 2n+2, 2n+4}. Lettingh(n)=max{|P|: sp(P)n}, it follows thatc ₁ n ²h(n)c ₂ n ⁿ⁺¹ for somec ₁ andc ₂. The lower bound disproves the conjecture thath(n)2n. It is shown that if |P| – 1 spec(P) thenP has a retract of size |P| – 1 but that for all there is a bipartite ordered set with spec(P) = {|P| – 2, |P| – 4, ...} which has no proper retract of size|P| – . The case of reflexive graphs is also treated.Partially supported by a grant from the NSERC.Partially supported by a grant from the NSERC.     

Singular asymptotic expansions for Dirichlet eigenvalues and eigenfunctions of the Laplacian on thin planar domains

We consider the Laplace operator with Dirichlet boundary conditions on a planar domain and study the effect that performing a scaling in one direction has on the spectrum. We derive the asymptotic expansion for the eigenvalues and corresponding eigenfunctions as a function of the scaling parameter around zero. This method allows us, for instance, to obtain an approximation for the first Dirichlet eigenvalue for a large class of planar domains, under very mild assumptions.     

Inside-out polytopes

We present a common generalization of counting lattice points in rational polytopes and the enumeration of proper graph colorings, nowhere-zero flows on graphs, magic squares and graphs, antimagic squares and graphs, compositions of an integer whose parts are partially distinct, and generalized latin squares. Our method is to generalize Ehrhart's theory of lattice-point counting to a convex polytope dissected by a hyperplane arrangement. We particularly develop the applications to graph and signed-graph coloring, compositions of an integer, and antimagic labellings.     

The Maximum Number of Dominating Induced Matchings

A matching M of a graph G is a dominating induced matching (DIM) of G if every edge of G is either in M or adjacent with exactly one edge in M. We prove sharp upper bounds on the number of DIMs of a graph G and characterize all extremal graphs. Our results imply that if G is a graph of order n, then ; provided G is triangle‐free; and provided and G is connected.