Diffuse Interface Methods for Multiple Phase Materials: An Energetic Variational Approach

In this paper, we introduce a diffuse interface model for describing the dynamics of mixtures involving multiple (two or more) phases. The coupled hydrodynamical system is derived through an energetic variational approach. The total energy of the system includes the kinetic energy and the mixing (interfacial) energies. The least action principle (or the principle of virtual work) is applied to derive the conservative part of the dynamics, with a focus on the reversible part of the stress tensor arising from the mixing energies. The dissipative part of the dynamics is then introduced through a dissipation function in the energy law, in line with Onsager's principle of maximum dissipation. The final system, formed by a set of coupled time-dependent partial differential equations, reflects a balance among various conservative and dissipative forces and governs the evolution of velocity and phase fields. To demonstrate the applicability of the proposed model, a few two-dimensional simulations have been carried out, including (1) the force balance at the three-phase contact line in equilibrium, (2) a rising bubble penetrating a fluid-fluid interface, and (3) a solid particle falling in a binary fluid. The effects of slip at solid surface have been examined in connection with contact line motion and a pinch-off phenomenon.     

Analysis of a system related to a model for phase transitions in dissipative isochoric thermoviscoelastic materials

We analyze a highly nonlinear system of partial differential equations related to a model solidification and/or melting of thermoviscoelastic isochoric materials with the possibility of motion of the material during the process. This system consists of an internal energy balance equation governing the evolution of temperature, coupled with an evolution equation for a phase field whose values describe the state of material and a balance equation for the linear moments governing the material displacements. For this system, under suitable dissipation conditions, we prove global existence and uniqueness of weak solutions. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Asymptotic stability of finite energy in Navier Stokes-elastic wave interaction

We consider a model of fluid-structure interaction in a bounded domain Ω∈ℝ² where Ω is comprised of two open adjacent sub-domains occupied, respectively, by the solid and the fluid. This leads to a study of Navier Stokes equation coupled on the interface to the dynamic system of elasticity. The characteristic feature of this coupled model is that the resolvent is not compact and the energy function characterizing balance of the total energy is weakly degenerated. These combined with the lack of mechanical dissipation and intrinsic nonlinearity of the dynamics render the problem of asymptotic stability rather delicate. Indeed, the only source of dissipation is the viscosity effect propagated from the fluid via interface. It will be shown that under suitable geometric conditions imposed on the geometry of the interface, finite energy function associated with weak solutions converges to zero when the time t converges to infinity. The required geometric conditions result from the presence of the pressure acting upon the solid.     

Nonsmooth analysis of doubly nonlinear evolution equations

In this paper we analyze a broad class of abstract doubly nonlinear evolution equations in Banach spaces, driven by nonsmooth and nonconvex energies. We provide some general sufficient conditions, on the dissipation potential and the energy functional, for existence of solutions to the related Cauchy problem. We prove our main existence result by passing to the limit in a time-discretization scheme with variational techniques. Finally, we discuss an application to a material model in finite-strain elasticity.     

Weak–strong uniqueness for heat conducting non-Newtonian incompressible fluids

In this work, we introduce a notion of dissipative weak solution for a system describing the evolution of a heat-conducting incompressible non-Newtonian fluid. This concept of solution is based on the balance of entropy instead of the balance of energy and has the advantage that it admits a weak–strong uniqueness principle, justifying the proposed formulation. We provide a proof of existence of solutions based on finite element approximations, thus obtaining the first convergence result of a numerical scheme for the full evolutionary system including temperature dependent coefficients and viscous dissipation terms. Then we proceed to prove the weak–strong uniqueness property of the system by means of a relative energy inequality.     

Passing from bulk to bulk-surface evolution in the Allen–Cahn equation

In this paper we formulate a boundary layer approximation for an Allen–Cahn-type equation involving a small parameter ${\varepsilon}$ . Here, ${\varepsilon}$ is related to the thickness of the boundary layer and we are interested in the limit ${\varepsilon \to 0}$ in order to derive nontrivial boundary conditions. The evolution of the system is written as an energy balance formulation of the L²-gradient flow with the corresponding Allen–Cahn energy functional. By transforming the boundary layer to a fixed domain we show the convergence of the solutions to a solution of a limit system. This is done by using concepts related to Γ- and Mosco convergence. By considering different scalings in the boundary layer we obtain different boundary conditions.     

Numerical analysis for phase field simulations of moving interfaces with topological changes

Phase field methods are a widely accepted tool for the approximation of moving free interfaces in sharp interface problems. Topological changes in the solution, such as nucleation or vanishing of particles or merging or pinching of interfaces, lead to singularities in the free boundary. In the sharp interface model, these singularities cause both numerical and theoretical problems, whereas they are handled “automatically” in phase field simulations. Phase field models contain a length scale ε > 0 that vanishes in the sharp interface limit. Therefore, when ε → 0, practical numerical methods have to be robust in the sense that error estimates may only depend polynomially on ε^-1, not exponentially. We show that robust error control is possible past the occurrence of topological changes and without restrictive assumptions on the initial data. (© 2010 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Fully discrete energy stable scheme for a phase-field moving contact line model with variable densities and viscosities

In this study, we propose a fully discrete energy stable scheme for the phase-field moving contact line model with variable densities and viscosities. The mathematical model comprises a Cahn–Hilliard equation, Navier–Stokes equation, and the generalized Navier boundary condition for the moving contact line. A scalar auxiliary variable is employed to transform the governing system into an equivalent form, thereby allowing the double well potential to be treated semi-explicitly. A stabilization term is added to balance the explicit nonlinear term originating from the surface energy at the fluid–solid interface. A pressure stabilization method is used to decouple the velocity and pressure computations. Some subtle implicit–explicit treatments are employed to deal with convention and stress terms. We establish a rigorous proof of the energy stability for the proposed time-marching scheme. A finite difference method based on staggered grids is then used to spatially discretize the constructed time-marching scheme. We also prove that the fully discrete scheme satisfies the discrete energy dissipation law. Our numerical results demonstrate the accuracy and energy stability of the proposed scheme. Using our numerical scheme, we analyze the contact line dynamics based on a shear flow-driven droplet sliding case. Three-dimensional droplet spreading is also investigated based on a chemically patterned surface. Our numerical simulation accurately predicts the expected energy evolution and it successfully reproduces the expected phenomena where an oil droplet contracts inward on a hydrophobic zone and then spreads outward rapidly on a hydrophilic zone.     

Evolutional contact with Coulomb's friction on a periodic microstructure

We consider the elasticity problem in a heterogeneous domain with an ε-periodic micro-structure, ε ≪ 1, including a multiple micro-contact in a simply connected matrix domain with inclusions completely surrounded by cracks, which do not connect the boundary, or a textile-like material. The contact is described by the Signorini and Coulomb-friction contact conditions. In the case of the Coulomb friction, the dissipative functional is state dependent, like in [2]. A time discretization scheme from [2] reduces the contact problem to the Tresca one (with prescribed frictional traction or state independent dissipation) on each time-increment. We further look for the spatial homogenization. The limiting energy and the dissipation term in the stability condition were obtained for the contact with Tresca's friction law in [4] for closed cracks and can be extended to textile-like materials. Using these results and the concept of energetic solutions for evolutional quasi-variational problems from [2], for a uniform time-step partition, the existence can be proved for the solution of the continuous problem and a subsequence of incremental solutions weakly converging to the continuous one uniformly in time. Furthermore, the irreversible frictional displacements at micro-level lead to a kind of an evolutional plastic behavior of the homogenized medium. (© 2013 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Existence and positivity of a system k-ε with a production term of the Rayleigh-Taylor type

In this paper, we study a modelization of the turbulence which allows us to have a control on the positivity of the kinetic turbulence energy k and the dissipation growth rate of the energy ε. We use for that purpose the maximum principle on a new system modelling the turbulence, written on the variables θ and φ first introduced by Lewandowski (θ = k/ε, φ = ε²/k³).Estimates on θ and φ are given for a turbulent system with a Rayleigh-Taylor type term under a hypothesis of low compressibility of the mean flow, which is more general than the hypothesis of Lewandowski.In a second part, we study a simpler convection diffusion system (the diffusion is a constant) in which there is still the Rayleigh-Taylor term. We show that the presence of this term gives greater solutions of the k, ε system, hence proving that these terms are turbulent kinetic energy production terms.     

A Geometric Theory of Growth Mechanics

In this paper we formulate a geometric theory of the mechanics of growing solids. Bulk growth is modeled by a material manifold with an evolving metric. The time dependence of the metric represents the evolution of the stress-free (natural) configuration of the body in response to changes in mass density and “shape”. We show that the time dependency of the material metric will affect the energy balance and the entropy production inequality; both the energy balance and the entropy production inequality have to be modified. We then obtain the governing equations covariantly by postulating invariance of energy balance under time-dependent spatial diffeomorphisms. We use the principle of maximum entropy production in deriving an evolution equation for the material metric. In the case of isotropic growth, we find those growth distributions that do not result in residual stresses. We then look at Lagrangian field theory of growing elastic solids. We will use the Lagrange–d’Alembert principle with Rayleigh’s dissipation functions to derive the governing equations. We make an explicit connection between our geometric theory and the conventional multiplicative decomposition of the deformation gradient, F=F _e F _g, into growth and elastic parts. We linearize the nonlinear theory and derive a linearized theory of growth mechanics. Finally, we obtain the stress-free growth distributions in the linearized theory.     

固液两相流中的K-ε双方程湍流模式*

建立了固液两相流中更一般的K-ε双方程湍流模式。模化了固相和液相的连续方程、动量方程及K方程和ε方程。该湍流模型考虑了固液两相间速度的滑移,颗粒间的作用及相间作用。使用本文所建立的湍流模型,数值预测了一管湍流中的沙水混合流动,其预测结果与实验结果比较一致。     

A Regularized Sharp Interface Model for Phase Transformation Accounting for Prescribed Sharp Interface Kinetics

The macroscopic mechanical behavior of multi-phasic materials depends on the formation and evolution of their microstructure by means of phase transformation. In case of martensitic transformations, the resulting phase boundaries are sharp interfaces. We carry out a geometrically motivated discussion of the regularization of such sharp interfaces by use of an order parameter/phase-field and exploit the results for a regularized sharp interface model for two-phase elastic materials with evolving phase boundaries. To account for the dissipative effects during phase transition, we model the material as a generalized standard medium with energy storage and a dissipation function that determines the evolution of the regularized interface. Making use of the level-set equation, we are thereby able to directly translate prescribed sharp interface kinetic relations to the constitutive model in the regularized setting. We develop a suitable incremental variational three-field framework for the dissipative phase transformation problem. Finally, the modeling capability and the associated numerical solution techniques are demonstrated by means of a representative numerical example. (© 2010 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

The Singular Limit Problem to the Extended Cahn–Hillard Equation

A mathematical model with a small parameter, which describes the hardening process of the binary tin–lead alloy, is investigated on the basis of nonlinear asymptotic analysis. A singular limit problem, namely an extended Stefan problem in the case of short relaxation time in the phase transformation zone, is derived. We prove the existence of an asymptotic solution with any accuracy on the time interval where the solution to the singular limit problem exists. The phase-separation interface is determined uniquely by three leading approximations. We also show that the stability of the separation interface depends on the so-called dissipation condition obtained for the solutions of the interface problem. Nonsymmetry of the surface tension tensor leads to a situation where the limit values of concentration distributions are in dependence on the geometry of the interface. This provokes the dispersion of the interface problem solutions on the part of the interface that not is tangent to the main crystallographic axis.     

Arnold Diffusion,Quantitative Estimates,and Stochastic Behavior in the Three-Body Problem

We consider a class of autonomous Hamiltonian systems subject to small, time-periodic perturbations. When the perturbation parameter is set to zero, the energy of the system is preserved. This is no longer the case when the perturbation parameter is non-zero. We describe a topological method to establish orbits which diffuse in energy for every suitably small perturbation parameter . The method yields quantitative estimates:

• (i) the existence of orbits along which the energy drifts by an amount independent of ε; the time required by such orbits to drift is ;
• (ii) the existence of orbits along which the energy makes chaotic excursions;
• (iii) explicit estimates for the Hausdorff dimension of the set of such chaotic orbits;
• (iv) the existence of orbits along which the time evolution of energy approaches a stopped diffusion process (Brownian motion with drift), as ε tends to 0. For each ε fixed, the set of initial conditions of the orbits that yield the diffusion process has positive Lebesgue measure, and in the limit the measure of these sets approaches 0. Moreover, we can obtain any desired values of the drift and variance for the limiting Brownian motion for appropriate sets of initial conditions.

A key feature of our topological method is that it can be implemented in computer-assisted proofs. We give an application to a concrete model of the planar elliptic restricted three-body problem, on the motion of an infinitesimal body relative to the Neptune-Triton system. © 2021 The Authors. Communications on Pure and Applied Mathematics published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.     

Global existence for a nonlinear system in thermoviscoelasticity with nonconvex energy

A three-dimensional thermoviscoelastic system derived from the balance laws of momentum and energy is considered. To describe structural phase transitions in solids, the stored energy function is not assumed to be convex as a function of the deformation gradient. A novel feature for multi-dimensional, nonconvex, and nonisothermal problems is that no regularizing higher-order terms are introduced. The mechanical dissipation is not linearized. We prove existence global in time. The approach is based on a fixed-point argument using an implicit time discretization and the theory of renormalized solutions for parabolic equations with L¹ data.     

On the Navier-Stokes Equations with Energy-Dependent Nonlocal Viscosities

We discuss the mathematical modeling of incompressible viscous flows for which the viscosity depends on the total dissipation energy. In the two-dimensional periodic case, we begin with the case of temperature-dependent viscosities with very large thermal conductivity in the heat convective equation, in which we obtain the Navier-Stokes system coupled with an ordinary differential equation involving the dissipation energy as the asymptotic limit. Letting further the latent heat to vanish, we derive the Navier-Stokes equations with a nonlocal viscosity depending on the total dissipation of energy. Bibliography: 7 titles.Dedicated to V. A. Solonnikov on the occasion of his 70th birthday__________Published in Zapiski Nauchnykh Seminarov POMI, Vol. 306, 2003, pp. 71–91.     

On the dissipation due to wave ringing in nonelliptic elastic materials

Summary Initial-boundary value problems describing the mechanics of nonelliptic elastic materials give rise to solutions that involve phase boundaries, the motion of which can dissipate mechanical energy. We investigate whether this dissipation, acting alone, can drive such a system toward equilibrium. Moving phase boundaries are regarded as a localized dissipative mechanism, and we consider a model which specifically excludes dissipation away from a phase boundary (such as that due to viscoelastic damping). In the problem under consideration, wave packets reverberate between the fixed external boundary and a single internal phase boundary. The phase boundary remains stationary unless it is acted upon by one of these wave packets, and each such interaction dissipates a finite amount of energy while causing the initiating wave packet to split into a reflected wave packet and a transmitted wave packet. Consequently, the number of wave packets increases in a geometric fashion. Each individual interaction of a wave packet with the phase boundary is, in a certain sense, mechanically underdetermined, and we augment the mechanical theory with two alternative energy criteria, each of which determines a different interaction dynamics. These alternative energy criteria are motivated by considerations of maximizing the energy dissipation in the system. We treat a system that is perturbed out of an initial minimum energy equilibrium state by a disturbance at the external boundary. A framework is developed for treating the resulting wave reverberations and calculating the energy dissipation for large time. Numerical computation indicates that the total energy dissipated in both versions of the dynamical problem is that which is necessary to settle into a new energy-minimal equilibrium state. We then establish the same result analytically for a meaningful limit involving a vanishingly small dynamical perturbation.     

Existence of weak solutions for a non-classical sharp interface model for a two-phase flow of viscous,incompressible fluids

We introduce a new sharp interface model for the flow of two immiscible, viscous, incompressible fluids. In contrast to classical models for two-phase flows we prescribe an evolution law for the interfaces that takes diffusional effects into account. This leads to a coupled system of Navier–Stokes and Mullins–Sekerka type parts that coincides with the asymptotic limit of a diffuse interface model. We prove the long-time existence of weak solutions, which is an open problem for the classical two-phase model. We show that the phase interfaces have in almost all points a generalized mean curvature.     

Boundary feedback stabilization of a coupled parabolic–hyperbolic Stokes–Lamé PDE system

We consider a parabolic–hyperbolic coupled system of two partial differential equations (PDEs), which governs fluid–structure interactions, and which features a suitable boundary dissipation term at the interface between the two media. The coupled system consists of Stokes flow coupled to the Lamé system of dynamic elasticity, with the respective dynamics being coupled on a boundary interface, where dissipation is introduced. Such a system is semigroup well-posed on the natural finite energy space (Avalos and Triggiani in Discr Contin Dynam Sys, to appear). Here we prove that, moreover, such semigroup is uniformly (exponentially) stable in the corresponding operator norm, with no geometrical conditions imposed on the boundary interface. This result complements the strong stability properties of the undamped case (Avalos and Triggiani in Discr Contin Dynam Sys, to appear). R. Triggiani’s research was partially supported by National Science Foundation under grant DMS-0104305 and by the Army Research Office under grant DAAD19-02-1-0179.