Modified Kirchhoff flow with a partially penetrable obstacle and its application to the efficiency of free flow turbines

An explicitly solvable analog of the Kirchhoff flow for the case of a semipenetrable obstacle is considered. Its application to estimating the efficiency of free flow turbines is discussed.     

Existence and uniqueness of solution of free boundary problem with partially degenerate diffusion

In this paper, we mainly introduce a general method to study the existence and uniqueness of solution of free boundary problems with partially degenerate diffusion.     

Reconstruction of a penetrable cavity and the external obstacle

The inverse acoustic scattering of point sources by a penetrable cavity and the external obstacle is considered. Making use of the internal measurements of scattered field on a closed curve inside the cavity, we first derive a factorization method which provides a rigorous characterization of the support of the cavity without knowing the external object. Then under the condition of the cavity is known in advance, we show that the linear sampling method can be applied to recover the outside obstacle with the help of some Green function.     

The fresh-salt water interface in a semi-pervious aquifer

The paper determines the location of the steady state interface between fresh and saltwater in a plane coastal aquifer. The lower boundary is totally impervious while the upper one is impervious below land and semi-pervious below the sea allowing an outflow through this part of the upper boundary. The model equations reduce to two boundary value problems, one valid in x < 0 and the other in x > 0 here x is measured along the aquifer with the origin at the coast. In each region unknown boundaries have to be determined as part of the solution using boundary and continuity conditions. Two cases are presented using the Dupuit approximation. One where the solution can be written down in terms of elementary functions and the other in which we have to use a phase space analysis.     

Random homogenization of an obstacle problem

We study the homogenization of an obstacle problem in a perforated domain, when the holes are periodically distributed and have random shape and size. The main assumption concerns the capacity of the holes which is assumed to be stationary ergodic.     

The inverse scattering problem for partially penetrable obstacles

We consider the direct and inverse problems for the scattering of a partially penetrable obstacle. Here ‘partially penetrable obstacle’ means that the waves transmit into the obstacle just from partial boundary of the obstacle with the rest of the boundary touching a known perfect and thin scatterer. The solvability of the direct scattering problem is presented using the classical boundary integral equation method. An interesting interior transmission problem is investigated for the purpose of solving the inverse obstacle scattering problem. Then the linear sampling method is proposed to reconstruct the shape and location of the obstacle from near field measurements. We note that the inversion algorithm can be implemented by avoiding the use of background Green function as a test function due to a mixed reciprocal principle.     

The factorization method for inverse acoustic scattering by a penetrable anisotropic obstacle

This paper is devoted to studying the factorization method applied to the inverse problem of reconstructing a penetrable anisotropic obstacle from far field patterns. We proved the validity of the factorization method. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An abstract sub-supersolution method in partially ordered spaces

We present a general framework in which sub-supersolution techniques can be applied. Specifically, we consider a normed vector space endowed with a partial order. This allows us to introduce a notion of sub- and supersolutions relative to an equation driven by operators defined from the space to its topological dual. We provide sufficient conditions to guarantee that the interval determined by an ordered pair of sub-supersolutions contains a solution of the initial problem. We also study existence of extremal positive or negative solutions and location of nodal solutions. Examples of applications to quasilinear boundary value problems are given.     

Unsaturated porous media flow with thermomechanical interaction

We propose a model for unsaturated poro‐plastic flow derived from the thermodynamic principles. For the isothermal case, the problem consists of a degenerate coupled system of two PDEs with two independent hysteresis operators describing hysteresis phenomena in both the solid and the pore fluids. Under natural hypotheses, we prove the existence of a global strong solution for this system. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The inverse scattering problem for a partially coated penetrable cavity with interior measurements

In this paper we consider the inverse scattering problem for a cavity that is bounded by a partially coated penetrable inhomogeneous medium of compact support and recover the shape of the cavity and the surface conductivity from a knowledge of measured scattered waves due to point sources located on a curve or surface inside the cavity. First, we prove that both the shape of the cavity and the surface conductivity on the coated part can be uniquely determined from a knowledge of the measured data. Next, we establish a linear sampling method for determining both the shape of the cavity and the surface conductivity. A central role in our justification is played by an eigenvalue problem which we call the exterior transmission eigenvalue problem. Finally, we present some numerical examples to illustrate the validity of our method.     

A Free Boundary Problem with Curvature

Abstract

In this paper we are interested in a free boundary problem with a motion law involving the mean curvature term of the free boundary. Viscosity solutions are introduced as a notion of global-time solutions past singularities. We show the comparison principle for viscosity solutions, which yields the existence of minimal and maximal solutions for given initial data. We also prove uniqueness of the solution for several classes of initial data and discuss the possibility of nonunique solutions.     

Mixed boundary value problems of diffraction by a half‐plane with an obstacle perpendicular to the boundary

The paper is devoted to the analysis of wave diffraction problems modeled by classes of mixed boundary conditions and the Helmholtz equation, within a half‐plane with a crack. Potential theory together with Fredholm theory, and explicit operator relations, are conveniently implemented to perform the analysis of the problems. In particular, an interplay between Wiener–Hopf plus/minus Hankel operators and Wiener–Hopf operators assumes a relevant preponderance in the final results. As main conclusions, this study reveals conditions for the well‐posedness of the corresponding boundary value problems in certain Sobolev spaces and equivalent reduction to systems of Wiener–Hopf equations. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The dam problem with leaky boundary conditions

The goal of this paper is to study the fluid flow through a two-dimensional porous medium when we impose a leaky boundary condition. We show in particular that the situation is quite different from the one with the usual Dirichlet boundary condition.This work was initiated at the Universidad Complutense in Madrid and at the University of Bonn. We would like to thank these institutions. We also thank the I.M.A. (University of Minnesota) for providing its support and a nice working atmosphere to the second author during the completion of this paper.     

Convergence of gauge method for incompressible flow

A new formulation, a gauge formulation of the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations in terms of an auxiliary field and a gauge variable , , was proposed recently by E and Liu. This paper provides a theoretical analysis of their formulation and verifies the computational advantages. We discuss the implicit gauge method, which uses backward Euler or Crank-Nicolson in time discretization. However, the boundary conditions for the auxiliary field are implemented explicitly (vertical extrapolation). The resulting momentum equation is decoupled from the kinematic equation, and the computational cost is reduced to solving a standard heat and Poisson equation. Moreover, such explicit boundary conditions for the auxiliary field will be shown to be unconditionally stable for Stokes equations. For the full nonlinear Navier-Stokes equations the time stepping constraint is reduced to the standard CFL constraint . We also prove first order convergence of the gauge method when we use MAC grids as our spatial discretization. The optimal error estimate for the velocity field is also obtained.

     

A free boundary problem in the theory of electrically actuated microdevices

Electrostatically deflected elastic systems are increasingly used in technical applications. We study a typical situation as a free boundary problem and prove, under quite general hypotheses, the existence of a local branch of solutions. Hadamard’s variational formula is crucial in the proof, which is based on the implicit function theorem in Banach spaces.     

How a minimal surface leaves a thin obstacle

We prove the optimal regularity and a detailed analysis of the free boundary of the solutions to the thin obstacle problem for nonparametric minimal surfaces with flat obstacles.