Lagrangian Approach to the Study of Level Sets: Application to a Free Boundary Problem in Climatology

We study the dynamics and regularity of level sets in solutions of the semilinear parabolic equation

Crack Initiation in Brittle Materials

In this paper we study the crack initiation in a hyper-elastic body governed by a Griffith-type energy. We prove that, during a load process through a time-dependent boundary datum of the type t → t g(x) and in the absence of strong singularities (e.g., this is the case of homogeneous isotropic materials) the crack initiation is brutal, that is, a big crack appears after a positive time t _i > 0. Conversely, in the presence of a point x of strong singularity, a crack will depart from x at the initial time of loading and with zero velocity. We prove these facts for admissible cracks belonging to the large class of closed one-dimensional sets with a finite number of connected components. The main tool we employ to address the problem is a local minimality result for the functional where , k > 0 and f is a suitable Carathéodory function. We prove that if the uncracked configuration u of Ω relative to a boundary displacement ψ has at most uniformly weak singularities, then configurations (uΓ, Γ) with small enough are such that .     

Non-autonomous 2D Navier–Stokes System with Singularly Oscillating External Force and its Global Attractor

We study the global attractor of the non-autonomous 2D Navier–Stokes (N.–S.) system with singularly oscillating external force of the form . If the functions g ₀(x, t) and g ₁ (z, t) are translation bounded in the corresponding spaces, then it is known that the global attractor is bounded in the space H, however, its norm may be unbounded as since the magnitude of the external force is growing. Assuming that the function g ₁ (z, t) has a divergence representation of the form where the functions (see Section 3), we prove that the global attractors of the N.–S. equations are uniformly bounded with respect to for all . We also consider the “limiting” 2D N.–S. system with external force g ₀(x, t). We have found an estimate for the deviation of a solution of the original N.–S. system from a solution u ⁰(x, t) of the “limiting” N.–S. system with the same initial data. If the function g ₁ (z, t) admits the divergence representation, the functions g ₀(x, t) and g ₁ (z, t) are translation compact in the corresponding spaces, and , then we prove that the global attractors converges to the global attractor of the “limiting” system as in the norm of H. In the last section, we present an estimate for the Hausdorff deviation of from of the form: in the case, when the global attractor is exponential (the Grashof number of the “limiting” 2D N.–S. system is small).      

A New Approach to the Fundamental Theorem of Surface Theory

The fundamental theorem of surface theory classically asserts that, if a field of positive-definite symmetric matrices (a _αβ ) of order two and a field of symmetric matrices (b _αβ ) of order two together satisfy the Gauss and Codazzi-Mainardi equations in a simply connected open subset ω of , then there exists an immersion such that these fields are the first and second fundamental forms of the surface , and this surface is unique up to proper isometries in . The main purpose of this paper is to identify new compatibility conditions, expressed again in terms of the functions a _αβ and b _αβ , that likewise lead to a similar existence and uniqueness theorem. These conditions take the form of the matrix equation

Asymptotic analysis of linearly elastic shells. II. Justification of flexural shell equations

We consider as in Part I a family of linearly elastic shells of thickness 2?, all having the same middle surfaceS=?(?)?R ³, whereω?R ² is a bounded and connected open set with a Lipschitz-continuous boundary, and?∈l ³ (?;R ³). The shells are clamped on a portion of their lateral face, whose middle line is?(γ ₀), whereγ ₀ is any portion of?ω withlength γ ₀>0. We make an essential geometrical assumption on the middle surfaceS and on the setγ ₀, which states that the space of inextensional displacements $$\begin{gathered} V_F (\omega ) = \{ \eta = (\eta _i ) \in H^1 (\omega ) \times H^1 (\omega ) \times H^2 (\omega ); \hfill \\ \eta _i = \partial _v \eta _3 = 0 on \gamma _0 ,\gamma _{\alpha \beta } (\eta ) = 0 in \omega \} , \hfill \\ \end{gathered}$$ where $\gamma _{\alpha \beta }$ (η) are the components of the linearized change is metric tensor ofS, contains non-zero functions. This assumption is satisfied in particular ifS is a portion of cylinder and?(γ ₀) is contained in a generatrix ofS. We show that, if the applied body force density isO(? ²) with respect to?, the fieldu(?)=(u _i (?)), whereu _i (?) denote the three covariant components of the displacement of the points of the shell given by the equations of three-dimensional elasticity, once “scaled” so as to be defined over the fixed domain Ω=ω×]?1, 1[, converges as?→0 inH ¹(Ω) to a limitu, which is independent of the transverse variable. Furthermore, the averageζ=1/2ts _?1 ¹ u dx ₃, which belongs to the spaceV _F (ω), satisfies the (scaled) two-dimensional equations of a “flexural shell”, viz., $$\frac{1}{3}\mathop \smallint \limits_\omega a^{\alpha \beta \sigma \tau } \rho _{\sigma \tau } (\zeta )\rho _{\alpha \beta } (\eta )\sqrt {a } dy = \mathop \smallint \limits_\omega \left\{ {\mathop \smallint \limits_{ - 1}^1 f^i dx_3 } \right\} \eta _i \sqrt {a } dy$$ for allη=(η _i ) ∈V _F (ω), where $a^{\alpha \beta \sigma \tau }$ are the components of the two-dimensional elasticity tensor of the surfaceS, $$\begin{gathered} \rho _{\alpha \beta } (\eta ) = \partial _{\alpha \beta } \eta _3 - \Gamma _{\alpha \beta }^\sigma \partial _\sigma \eta _3 + b_\beta ^\sigma \left( {\partial _\alpha \eta _\sigma - \Gamma _{\alpha \sigma }^\tau \eta _\tau } \right) \hfill \\ + b_\alpha ^\sigma \left( {\partial _\beta \eta _\sigma - \Gamma _{\beta \sigma }^\tau \eta _\tau } \right) + b_\alpha ^\sigma {\text{|}}_\beta \eta _\sigma - c_{\alpha \beta } \eta _3 \hfill \\ \end{gathered} $$ are the components of the linearized change of curvature tensor ofS, $\Gamma _{\alpha \beta }^\sigma$ are the Christoffel symbols ofS, $b_\alpha ^\beta$ are the mixed components of the curvature tensor ofS, andf ⁱ are the scaled components of the applied body force. Under the above assumptions, the two-dimensional equations of a “flexural shell” are therefore justified.     

Uniqueness and Nonuniqueness of Viscosity Solutions to Aronsson’s Equation

For a bounded domain and , assume that is convex and coercive, and that has no interior points. Then we establish the uniqueness of viscosity solutions to the Dirichlet problem of Aronsson’s equation:

Homogenization of Non-linear Scalar Conservation Laws

We study the limit as ε → 0 of the entropy solutions of the equation . We prove that the sequence u ^ε two-scale converges toward a function u(t, x, y), and u is the unique solution of a limit evolution problem. The remarkable point is that the limit problem is not a scalar conservation law, but rather a kinetic equation in which the macroscopic and microscopic variables are mixed. We also prove a strong convergence result in .     

Roughness induced forced convective laminar-transitional micropipe flow: energy and exergy analysis

Variable fluid property continuity, Navier–Stokes and energy equations are solved for roughness induced forced convective laminar-transitional flow in a micropipe. Influences of Reynolds number, heat flux and surface roughness, on the momentum-energy transport mechanisms and second-law of thermodynamics, are investigated for the ranges of Re = 1–2,000, Q = 5–100 W/m² and ε = 1–50 μm. Numerical investigations put forward that surface roughness accelerates transition with flatter velocity profiles and increased intermittency values (γ); such that a high roughness of ε = 50 μm resulted in transitional character at Re _tra = 450 with γ = 0.136. Normalized friction coefficient (C _f^*) values showed augmentation with Re, as the evaluated C _f^* are 1.006, 1.028 and 1.088 for Re = 100, 500 and 1,500, respectively, at ε = 1 μm, the corresponding values rise to C _f^* = 1.021, 1.116 and 1.350 at ε = 50 μm. Heat transfer rates are also recorded to rise with Re and ε; moreover the growing influence of ε on Nusselt number with Re is determined by the Nu _ε=50 μm/Nu _ε=1 μm ratios of 1.086, 1.168 and 1.259 at Re = 500, 1,000 and 1,500. Thermal volumetric entropy generation values decrease with Re and ε in heating; however the contrary is recorded for frictional volumetric entropy generation data, where the augmentations in are more considerable when compared with the decrease rates of      

The Asymptotic Finite-dimensional Character of a Spectrally-hyperviscous Model of 3D Turbulent Flow

We obtain attractor and inertial-manifold results for a class of 3D turbulent flow models on a periodic spatial domain in which hyperviscous terms are added spectrally to the standard incompressible Navier–Stokes equations (NSE). Let P _m be the projection onto the first m eigenspaces of A =−Δ, let μ and α be positive constants with α ≥3/2, and let Q _m =I − P _m , then we add to the NSE operators μ A _φ in a general family such that A _φ≥Q _m A ^α in the sense of quadratic forms. The models are motivated by characteristics of spectral eddy-viscosity (SEV) and spectral vanishing viscosity (SVV) models. A distinguished class of our models adds extra hyperviscosity terms only to high wavenumbers past a cutoff λ _m0 where m ₀ ≤ m, so that for large enough m ₀ the inertial-range wavenumbers see only standard NSE viscosity. We first obtain estimates on the Hausdorff and fractal dimensions of the attractor (respectively and ). For a constant K _α on the order of unity we show if μ ≥ ν that and if μ ≤ ν that where ν is the standard viscosity coefficient, l ₀ = λ₁^−1/2 represents characteristic macroscopic length, and is the Kolmogorov length scale, i.e. where is Kolmogorov’s mean rate of dissipation of energy in turbulent flow. All bracketed constants and K _α are dimensionless and scale-invariant. The estimate grows in m due to the term λ _m /λ₁ but at a rate lower than m ^3/5, and the estimate grows in μ as the relative size of ν to μ. The exponent on is significantly less than the Landau–Lifschitz predicted value of 3. If we impose the condition , the estimates become for μ ≥ ν and for μ ≤ ν. This result holds independently of α, with K _α and c _α independent of m. In an SVV example μ ≥ ν, and for μ ≤ ν aspects of SEV theory and observation suggest setting for 1/c within α orders of magnitude of unity, giving the estimate where c _α is within an order of magnitude of unity. These choices give straight-up or nearly straight-up agreement with the Landau–Lifschitz predictions for the number of degrees of freedom in 3D turbulent flow with m so large that (e.g. in the distinguished-class case for m ₀ large enough) we would expect our solutions to be very good if not virtually indistinguishable approximants to standard NSE solutions. We would expect lower choices of λ _m (e.g. with a > 1) to still give good NSE approximation with lower powers on l ₀/l _ε, showing the potential of the model to reduce the number of degrees of freedom needed in practical simulations. For the choice , motivated by the Chapman–Enskog expansion in the case m = 0, the condition becomes , giving agreement with Landau–Lifschitz for smaller values of λ _m then as above but still large enough to suggest good NSE approximation. Our final results establish the existence of a inertial manifold for reasonably wide classes of the above models using the Foias/Sell/Temam theory. The first of these results obtains such an of dimension N > m for the general class of operators A _φ if α > 5/2. The special class of A _φ such that P _m A _φ = 0 and Q _m A _φ ≥ Q _m A ^α has a unique spectral-gap property which we can use whenever α ≥ 3/2 to show that we have an inertial manifold of dimension m if m is large enough. As a corollary, for most of the cases of the operators A _φ in the distinguished-class case that we expect will be typically used in practice we also obtain an , now of dimension m ₀ for m ₀ large enough, though under conditions requiring generally larger m ₀ than the m in the special class. In both cases, for large enough m (respectively m ₀), we have an inertial manifold for a system in which the inertial range essentially behaves according to standard NSE physics, and in particular trajectories on are controlled by essentially NSE dynamics.      

Dynamic Contact Behavior of a Golf Ball during an Oblique Impact

The oblique impact between a golf ball and a rigid steel target was studied using a high-speed video camera. Video images recorded before and after the impact were used to determine the inbound velocity v _i, rebound velocity v _r, inbound angle θ_i, rebound angle θ_r, and the coefficient of restitution e. The results showed that θ_r and e decreased as v _i increased. The maximum compression ratio η_c, contact time t _c, average angular velocity , and tangential velocity , along the target were determined from images obtained during the impact. The images demonstrated that η_c increased with v _i while t _c decreased. In addition, and increased almost linearly as v _i increased. A rigid body model was used to estimate the final angular velocity ω* and tangential velocity ν_t* at the end of the impact; these results were then compared with experimental data.     

Radial Solutions and Phase Separation in a System of Two Coupled Schrödinger Equations

We consider the nonlinear elliptic system

Asymptotic analysis of linearly elastic shells. I. Justification of membrane shell equations

We consider a family of linearly elastic shells with thickness 2?, clamped along their entire lateral face, all having the same middle surfaceS=φ(?ω) ?R ³, whereω ?R ² is a bounded and connected open set with a Lipschitz-continuous boundaryγ, andφ ∈l ³ ( $\overline \omega$ ;R ³). We make an essential geometrical assumption on the middle surfaceS, which is satisfied ifγ andφ are smooth enough andS is “uniformly elliptic”, in the sense that the two principal radii of curvature are either both>0 at all points ofS, or both<0 at all points ofS. We show that, if the applied body force density isO(1) with respect to?, the fieldtu(?)=(u _i(?)), whereu _i (?) denote the three covariant components of the displacement of the points of the shell given by the equations of three-dimensional elasticity, one “scaled” so as to be defined over the fixed domain Ω=ω×]?1, 1[, converges inH ¹(Ω)×H ¹(Ω)×L ²(Ω) as?→0 to a limitu, which is independent of the transverse variable. Furthermore, the averageξ=1/2ε _?1 ¹ u dx ₃, which belongs to the space $$V_M (\omega ) = H_0^1 (\omega ) \times H_0^1 (\omega ) \times L^2 (\omega ),$$ satisfies the (scaled) two-dimensional equations of a “membrane shell” viz., $$\mathop \smallint \limits_\omega a^{\alpha \beta \sigma \tau } \gamma _{\sigma \tau } (\zeta )\gamma _{\alpha \beta } (\eta ) \sqrt \alpha dy = \mathop \smallint \limits_\omega \left\{ {\mathop \smallint \limits_{ - 1}^1 f^i dx_3 } \right\}\eta _i \sqrt a dy$$ for allη=(η _i) εV _M(ω), where $a^{\alpha \beta \sigma \tau }$ are the components of the two-dimensional elasticity tensor of the surfaceS, $$\gamma _{\alpha \beta } (\eta ) = \frac{1}{2}\left( {\partial _{\alpha \eta \beta } + \partial _{\beta \eta \alpha } } \right) - \Gamma _{\alpha \beta }^\sigma \eta _\sigma - b_{\alpha \beta \eta 3} $$ are the components of the linearized change of metric tensor ofS, $\Gamma _{\alpha \beta }^\sigma$ are the Christoffel symbols ofS, $b_{\alpha \beta }$ are the components of the curvature tensor ofS, andf ⁱ are the scaled components of the applied body force. Under the above assumptions, the two-dimensional equations of a “membrane shell” are therefore justified.     

Fluid flow and heat transfer in microchannels with rectangular cross section

Forced convective heat transfer coefficients and friction factors for flow of water in microchannels with a rectangular cross section were measured. An integrated microsystem consisting of five microchannels on one side and a localized heater and seven polysilicon temperature sensors along the selected channels on the other side was fabricated using a double-polished-prime silicon wafer. For the microchannels tested, the friction factor constant obtained are values between 53.7 and 60.4, which are close to the theoretical value from a correlation for macroscopic dimension, 56.9 for D _h  = 100 μm. The heat transfer coefficients obtained by measuring the wall temperature along the micro channels were linearly dependent on the wall temperature, in turn, the heat transfer mechanism is strongly dependent on the fluid properties such as viscosity. The measured Nusselt number in the laminar flow regime tested could be correlated by which is quite different from the constant value obtained in macrochannels.     

Existence of a Solution “in the Large” for Ocean Dynamics Equations

For the system of equations describing the large-scale ocean dynamics, an existence and uniqueness theorem is proved “in the large”. This system is obtained from the 3D Navier–Stokes equations by changing the equation for the vertical velocity component u ₃ under the assumption of smallness of a domain in z-direction, and a nonlinear equation for the density function ρ is added. More precisely, it is proved that for an arbitrary time interval [0, T], any viscosity coefficients and any initial conditions

Effects of Large Scales Motion in Unstable Stratified Shear Flows

Homogeneous turbulence under unstable uniform stratification (N ² < 0) and vertical shear is investigated by using the linear theory (or the so-called rapid distortion theory, RDT) for an initial isotropic turbulence over a range −∞ ≤ R _i =N ²/S ² ≤ 0. The initial potential energy is zero and P _r =1 (i.e. the molecular Prandtl number).One-dimensional (streamwise) k ₁−spectra, especially Θ₃₃(k ₁) (i.e., that of the vertical kinetic energy, are investigated. In agreement with previous experiments, it is found that the unstable stratification affects the turbulence quantities at all scales. A significant increase of the vertical kinetic energy is observed at low wavenumbers k ₁ (i.e. large scales) due to an increase of the stratification . The effect of the shear (S) is appreciable only at high wavenumbers k ₁ (i.e. small scales).Based on the importance of the spectral components with k ₁ = 0, the asymptotic forms of Θ _ij (k ₁ = 0) or equivalently the so-called “two-dimensional” energy components (2DEC) are analyzed in detail. The asymptotic form for the ratio of 2DEC is compared to the long-time limit of the ratio of real energies. In the unstable stratified shearless case (S=0,N ² ≠ 0) the variances and the covariances of the velocity and the density are derived analytically in terms of the Weber functions, while when S ≠ 0 and N ² ≠ 0 they are obtained numerically (−100 ≤ R _i <0 and . The results are discussed in connection to previous experimental results in unstable stratified open channel flows cooled from above by Komori et al. Phy Fluids 25, 1539–1546 (1982).It is shown that the Richardson number dependence of the long-time limit of the ratios of real energies is well described by this “simple” model (i.e. the dependence of the long-time limit of 2DEC on R _i ). For example, the ratio of the potential energy to the kinetic energy (q ²/2), approaches −R _i /(1−R _i ), the ratio of turbulent energy production by buoyancy forces to production by shearing forces (i.e. the flux Richardson number, R _if ), approaches R _i . Also, the Richardson number dependence of the principal angle (β) of the Reynolds stress tensor and the angle (β_ρ) of the scalar flux vector is fairly predicted by this model .On the other hand, it is found that the above ratios are insensitive to viscosity, while the ratios ɛ /q ² and , depend on the viscosity and they evolve asymptotically like t ⁻¹. The turbulent Froude number, F _rt =(L _Oz /L _E )^2/3, where L _Oz and L _E are the Ozmidov length scale and the Ellison length scale, respectively, evolves asymptotically like t ^−1/3.     

Nonparabolic Asymptotic Limits of Solutions of the Heat Equation on $${\mathbb{R}}^N$$

In this paper, we construct solutions u(t,x) of the heat equation on such that has nontrivial limit points in as t → ∞ for certain values of μ > 0 and β > 1/2. We also show the existence of solutions of this type for nonlinear heat equations.      

The Semigeostrophic Equations Discretized in Reference and Dual Variables

We study the evolution of a system of n particles in . That system is a conservative system with a Hamiltonian of the form , where W ₂ is the Wasserstein distance and μ is a discrete measure concentrated on the set . Typically, μ(0) is a discrete measure approximating an initial L ^∞ density and can be chosen randomly. When d  =  1, our results prove convergence of the discrete system to a variant of the semigeostrophic equations. We obtain that the limiting densities are absolutely continuous with respect to the Lebesgue measure. When converges to a measure concentrated on a special d–dimensional set, we obtain the Vlasov–Monge–Ampère (VMA) system. When, d = 1 the VMA system coincides with the standard Vlasov–Poisson system.