Some Aspects of Stability for Semigroup Actions and Control Systems

The present paper introduces both the notions of Lagrange and Poisson stabilities for semigroup actions. Let \(S\) be a semigroup acting on a topological space \(X\) with mapping \(\sigma :S\times X\rightarrow X\) , and let \(\mathcal {F}\) be a family of subsets of \(S\) . For \(x\in X\) the motion \(\sigma _{x}:S\rightarrow X\) is said to be forward Lagrange stable if the orbit \(Sx\) has compact closure in \(X\) . The point \(x\) is forward \(\mathcal {F}\) -Poisson stable if and only if it belongs to the limit set \(\omega \left( x,\mathcal {F}\right) \) . The concept of prolongational limit set is also introduced and used to describe nonwandering points. It is shown that a point \(x\) is \( \mathcal {F}\) -nonwandering if and only if \(x\) lies in its forward \(\mathcal {F} \) -prolongational limit set \(J\left( x,\mathcal {F}\right) \) . The paper contains applications to control systems.     

Output feedback \varvec{\mathcal {H}}_{{\varvec{\infty }}} control of stochastic nonlinear time-delay systems with state and disturbance-dependent noises

This paper is concerned with the output feedback \(\mathcal {H}_\infty \) control problem for a class of stochastic nonlinear systems with time-varying state delays; the system dynamics is governed by the stochastic time-delay It \(\hat{o}\) -type differential equation with state and disturbance contaminated by white noises. The design of the output feedback \(\mathcal {H}_\infty \) control is based on the stochastic dissipative theory. By establishing the stochastic dissipation of the closed-loop system, the delay-dependent and delay-independent approaches are proposed for designing the output feedback \(\mathcal {H}_\infty \) controller. It is shown that the output feedback \(\mathcal {H}_\infty \) control problem for the stochastic nonlinear time-delay systems can be solved by two delay-involved Hamilton–Jacobi inequalities. A numerical example is provided to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed methods.     

Stable disarrangement phases of elastic aggregates: a setting for the emergence of no-tension materials with non-linear response in compression

A recent field theory of elastic bodies undergoing non-smooth submacroscopic geometrical changes (disarrangements) provides a setting in which, for a given homogeneous macroscopic deformation \(F\) of the body, there are typically a number of different states \(G\) of smooth, submacroscopic deformation (disarrangement phases) available to the body. A tensorial consistency relation and the inequality \(\det G\le \det F\) that guarantees that \(F\) accommodates \(G\) determine the totality of disarrangement phases \(G\) corresponding to \(F\) , and it is natural to seek for a given \(F\) those disarrangement phases that minimize the Helmholtz free energy (stable disarrangement phases). We introduce these concepts in the particular context of continuous bodies comprised of many small elastic bodies (elastic aggregates) and in the context where disarrangements do not contribute to the Helmholtz free energy (purely dissipative disarrangements). In this setting, the Helmholtz free energy response \(G\longmapsto \varPsi (G)\) of the pieces of the aggregate determines the totality of disarrangement phases corresponding to \(F\) , which necessarily includes the phase \(G=F\) (compact phase) in which every piece of the aggregate undergoes the given macroscopic deformation \(F\) . When the response function \(\varPsi \) is isotropic and smooth, and when \(\varPsi \) possesses standard semiconvexity and growth properties, the body also admits phases of the form \(G=\zeta _{\min }R\) (loose phases) with \(R\) an arbitrary rotation, provided that \(\zeta _{\min }R \) satisfies the accommodation inequality \(\zeta _{\min }^{3}\le \det F\) . Loose phases, when available, achieve the global minimum \(\varPsi (\zeta _{\min }R)\) of the free energy and consequently are stable and stress-free. When \( \varPsi (G)\) has the specific form \(\varPsi _{\alpha \beta }(G)=(\alpha /2)(\det G)^{-2}+(\beta /2)tr(GG^{T})\) , with \(\alpha \) , \(\beta \) given elastic constants, we determine all of the disarrangement phases corresponding to \(F\) . These include not only the compact and loose phases, but also disarrangement phases \(G\) in which the stress \(D\varPsi (G)\) is uniaxial or planar. Our main result (“stability implies no-tension”) is the assertion that every stable disarrangement phase for \(\varPsi _{\alpha \beta }\) cannot support tensile tractions, and our treatment of elastic aggregates thus provides a natural setting for the emergence of no-tension materials whose response in compression is non-linear. Existing treatments of no-tension materials assume at the outset that the body cannot support tension and that the response in compression is linear.     

Gas Sorption and the Consequent Volumetric and Permeability Change of Coal II: Numerical Modeling

The permeability of coalbed methane reservoirs may evolve during the recovery of methane and injection of gas, due to the change of effective stress and gas adsorption and desorption. Experimental and numerical studies were conducted to investigate the sorption-induced permeability change of coal. This paper presents the numerical modeling part of the work. It was found that adsorption of pure gases on coal was well represented by parametric adsorption isotherm models in the literature. Based on the experimental data of this study, adsorption of pure \(\hbox {N}_2\) was modeled using the Langmuir equation, and adsorption of pure \(\hbox {CO}_2\) was well represented by the N-Layer BET equation. For the modeling of CO \(_2\) & N \(_2\) binary mixture adsorption, the ideal adsorbed solution (IAS) model and the real adsorbed solution (RAS) model were used. The IAS model estimated the total amount of mixture adsorption and the composition of the adsorbed phase based on the pure adsorption isotherms. The estimated total adsorption and adsorbed-phase composition were very different from the experimental results, indicating nonideality of the CO \(_2\) –N \(_2\) –Coal-adsorption system. The measured sorption-induced strain was linearly proportional to the total amount of adsorption despite the species of the adsorbed gas. Permeability reduction followed a linear correlation with the volumetric strain with the adsorption of pure \(\hbox {N}_2\) and the tested CO \(_2\) & N \(_2\) binary mixtures, and an exponential correlation with the adsorption of pure \(\hbox {CO}_2\) .     

Attractors and Chain Recurrence for Semigroup Actions

Let ${\mathcal{S}}$ be a semigroup acting on a topological space M. We define attractors for the action of ${\mathcal{S}}$ on M. This concept depends on a family ${\mathcal{F}}$ of subsets of ${\mathcal{S}}$ . For certain semigroups and families it recovers the concept of attractors for flows or semiflows. We define and study the complementary repeller of an attractor. We also characterize the set of chain recurrent points in terms of attractors.     

Expansivity and Cone-fields in Metric Spaces

Due to the results of Lewowicz and Tolosa expansivity can be characterized with the aid of Lyapunov function. In this paper we study a similar problem for uniform expansivity and show that it can be described using generalized cone-fields on metric spaces. We say that a function \(f:X\rightarrow X\) is uniformly expansive on a set \(\varLambda \subset X\) if there exist \(\varepsilon >0\) and \(\alpha \in (0,1)\) such that for any two orbits \(\hbox {x}:\{-N,\ldots ,N\} \rightarrow \varLambda \) , \(\hbox {v}:\{-N,\ldots ,N\} \rightarrow X\) of \(f\) we have $$\begin{aligned} \sup _{-N\le n\le N}d(\hbox {x}_n,\hbox {v}_n) \le \varepsilon \implies d(\hbox {x}_0,\hbox {v}_0) \le \alpha \sup _{-N\le n\le N}d(\hbox {x}_n,\hbox {v}_n). \end{aligned}$$ It occurs that a function is uniformly expansive iff there exists a generalized cone-field on \(X\) such that \(f\) is cone-hyperbolic.     

Properties of Monodromic Points on Center Manifolds in {\mathbb {R}}^3 via Lie Symmetries

In this work we use Lie symmetries to investigate monodromic points on center manifolds of a singularity of an analytic vector field ${\mathcal {X}}$ in ${\mathbb {R}}^3$ . We investigate how whether the singularity is a focus or a center, is analytically normalizable or not, and is linearizable or not is reflected in the centralizer and normalizer of ${\mathcal {X}}$ .     

Elongational rheology of NIPAM-based hydrogels

Hydrogels of different composition based on the copolymerization of N-isopropyl acrylamide and surfmers of different chemical structure were tested in elongation using Hencky/real definitions for stress, strain, and strain rate, offering a more scientific insight into the effect of deformation on the properties. In a range between $\dot {\varepsilon }=10$ and 0.01 s $^{-1}$ , the material properties are independent of strain rate and show a very clear strain hardening with a “brittle” sudden fracture. The addition of surfmer increases the strain at break $\varepsilon _{\mathrm {H}}^{\max }$ and at the same time leads to a failure of hyperelastic models. The samples can be stretched up to Hencky strains $\varepsilon _{\mathrm {H}}^{\max }$ between 0.6 and 2.5, depending on the molecular structure, yielding linear Young’s moduli E $_{0}$ between 2,700 and 39,000 Pa. The strain-rate independence indicates an ideal rubberlike behavior and fracture in a brittle-like fashion. The resulting stress at break $\sigma _{\textrm max}$ can be correlated with $\varepsilon _{\mathrm {H}}^{\max } $ and $E_{0}$ as well as with the solid molar mass between the cross-linking points $M_{\mathrm {c}}^{\textrm {solids}} $ , derived from $E_{0}$ .     

Stochastic Variational Inequalities and Applications to the Total Variation Flow Perturbed by Linear Multiplicative Noise

In this work, we introduce a new method to prove the existence and uniqueness of a variational solution to the stochastic nonlinear diffusion equation ${{\rm d}X(t) = {\rm div} \left[\frac{\nabla X(t)}{|\nabla X(t)|}\right]{\rm d}t + X(t){\rm d}W(t) {\rm in} (0, \infty) \times \mathcal{O},}$ where ${\mathcal{O}}$ is a bounded and open domain in ${\mathbb{R}^N, N \geqq 1}$ and W(t) is a Wiener process of the form ${W(t) = \sum^{\infty}_{k = 1}\mu_{k}e_{k}\beta_{k}(t), e_{k} \in C^{2}(\overline{\mathcal{O}}) \cap H^{1}_{0}(\mathcal{O}),}$ and ${\beta_{k}, k \in \mathbb{N}}$ are independent Brownian motions. This is a stochastic diffusion equation with a highly singular diffusivity term. One main result established here is that for all initial conditions in ${L^2(\mathcal{O})}$ , it is well posed in a class of continuous solutions to the corresponding stochastic variational inequality. Thus, one obtains a stochastic version of the (minimal) total variation flow. The new approach developed here also allows us to prove the finite time extinction of solutions in dimensions ${1\leqq N \leqq3}$ , which is another main result of this work.     

Multistage γ-level \mathcal{H}_{\infty} control for input-saturated systems with disturbances

For input-saturated systems with disturbances, states in the domain of attraction cannot converge to the origin, but only to neighborhood around it. In order to design the smallest possible target invariant set and the largest possible domain of attraction, in this paper, we introduce a multistage γ-level $\mathcal{H}_{\infty}$ control for achieving a smaller target invariant set within a given $\mathcal{H}_{\infty}$ performance level and a larger domain of attraction than results obtained in previous studies. In particular, for the case in which the disturbances satisfy a matched condition, this paper introduces an $\mathcal{H}_{\infty}$ control with an extra control part to perfectly reject these disturbances despite the uncertainties; the introduction of the $\mathcal{H}_{\infty}$ control with an extra control part causes the target invariant set to shrink to the origin and the $\mathcal{H}_{\infty}$ performance level to become zero.     

On the Stability in Weak Topology of the Set of Global Solutions to the Navier–Stokes Equations

Let X be a suitable function space and let ${\mathcal{G} \subset X}$ be the set of divergence free vector fields generating a global, smooth solution to the incompressible, homogeneous three-dimensional Navier–Stokes equations. We prove that a sequence of divergence free vector fields converging in the sense of distributions to an element of ${\mathcal{G}}$ belongs to ${\mathcal{G}}$ if n is large enough, provided the convergence holds “anisotropically” in frequency space. Typically, this excludes self-similar type convergence. Anisotropy appears as an important qualitative feature in the analysis of the Navier–Stokes equations; it is also shown that initial data which do not belong to ${\mathcal{G}}$ (hence which produce a solution blowing up in finite time) cannot have a strong anisotropy in their frequency support.     

On the Characterization of the Navier–Stokes Flows with the Power-Like Energy Decay

We study the energy decay of the turbulent solutions to the Navier–Stokes equations in the whole three-dimensional space. We show as the main result that the solutions with the energy decreasing at the rate \({O(t^{-\alpha}), t \rightarrow \infty, \alpha \in [0, 5/2]}\) , are exactly characterized by their initial conditions belonging into the homogeneous Besov space \({\dot{B}^{-\alpha}_{2, \infty}}\) . Similarly, for a solution u and \({p \in [1, \infty]}\) the integral \({\int_{0}^{\infty} \|t^{\alpha/2} u(t)\|^p \frac{1}{t} dt}\) is finite if and only if the initial condition of u belongs to the homogeneous Besov space \({\dot{B}_{2, p}^{-\alpha}}\) . For the case \({\alpha \in (5/2, 9/2]}\) we present analogical results for some subclasses of turbulent solutions.     

Global Regularity for the Two-Dimensional Anisotropic Boussinesq Equations with Vertical Dissipation

This paper establishes the global in time existence of classical solutions to the two-dimensional anisotropic Boussinesq equations with vertical dissipation. When only vertical dissipation is present, there is no direct control on the horizontal derivatives and the global regularity problem is very challenging. To solve this problem, we bound the derivatives in terms of the ${L^\infty}$ -norm of the vertical velocity v and prove that ${\|v\|_{L^{r}}}$ with ${2\leqq r < \infty}$ does not grow faster than ${\sqrt{r \log r}}$ at any time as r increases. A delicate interpolation inequality connecting ${\|v\|_{L^\infty}}$ and ${\|v\|_{L^r}}$ then yields the desired global regularity.     

A fast algorithm to calculate the critical coupling strength for synchronization in a chain of Kuramoto oscillators

Synchronization in a one-dimensional chain of Kuramoto oscillators with periodic boundary conditions is studied. An algorithm to rapidly calculate the critical coupling strength \(K_c\) for complete frequency synchronization is presented according to the mathematical constraint conditions and the periodic boundary conditions. By this new algorithm, we have checked the relation between \(\langle K_c\rangle \) and \(N\) , which is \(\langle K_c\rangle \sim \sqrt{N}\) , not only for small \(N\) , but also for large \(N\) . We also investigate the heavy-tailed distribution of \(K_c\) for random intrinsic frequencies, which is obtained by showing that the synchronization problem is equivalent to a discretization of Brownian motion. This theoretical result was checked by generating a large sample of \(K_c\) for large \(N\) from our algorithm to get the empirical density of \(K_c\) . Finally, we derive the permutation for the maximum coupling strength and its exact expression, which grows linearly with \(N\) and would provide the theoretical support for engineering applications.     

Global Compensated Compactness Theorem for General Differential Operators of First Order

Let A ₁(x, D) and A ₂(x, D) be differential operators of the first order acting on l-vector functions ${u= (u_1, \ldots, u_l)}$ in a bounded domain ${\Omega \subset \mathbb{R}^{n}}$ with the smooth boundary ${\partial\Omega}$ . We assume that the H ¹-norm ${\|u\|_{H^{1}(\Omega)}}$ is equivalent to ${\sum_{i=1}^2\|A_iu\|_{L^2(\Omega)} + \|B_1u\|_{H^{\frac{1}{2}}(\partial\Omega)}}$ and ${\sum_{i=1}^2\|A_iu\|_{L^2(\Omega)} + \|B_2u\|_{H^{\frac{1}{2}}(\partial\Omega)}}$ , where B _i  = B _i (x, ν) is the trace operator onto ${\partial\Omega}$ associated with A _i (x, D) for i = 1, 2 which is determined by the Stokes integral formula (ν: unit outer normal to ${\partial\Omega}$ ). Furthermore, we impose on A ₁ and A ₂ a cancellation property such as ${A_1A_2^{\prime}=0}$ and ${A_2A_1^{\prime}=0}$ , where ${A^{\prime}_i}$ is the formal adjoint differential operator of A _i (i = 1, 2). Suppose that ${\{u_m\}_{m=1}^{\infty}}$ and ${\{v_m\}_{m=1}^{\infty}}$ converge to u and v weakly in ${L^2(\Omega)}$ , respectively. Assume also that ${\{A_{1}u_m\}_{m=1}^{\infty}}$ and ${\{A_{2}v_{m}\}_{m=1}^{\infty}}$ are bounded in ${L^{2}(\Omega)}$ . If either ${\{B_{1}u_m\}_{m=1}^{\infty}}$ or ${\{B_{2}v_m\}_{m=1}^{\infty}}$ is bounded in ${H^{\frac{1}{2}}(\partial\Omega)}$ , then it holds that ${\int_{\Omega}u_m\cdot v_m \,{\rm d}x \to \int_{\Omega}u\cdot v \,{\rm d}x}$ . We also discuss a corresponding result on compact Riemannian manifolds with boundary.     

On the Elastic Energy Density of Constrained Q-Tensor Models for Biaxial Nematics

Within the Landau–de Gennes theory, the order parameter describing a biaxial nematic liquid crystal assigns a symmetric traceless 3 × 3 matrix Q with three distinct eigenvalues to every point of the region Ω occupied by the system. In the constrained case of matrices Q with constant eigenvalues, the order parameter space is diffeomorphic to the eightfold quotient ${\mathbb{S}^3/\mathcal{H}}$ of the 3-sphere ${\mathbb{S}^3}$ , where ${\mathcal{H}}$ is the quaternion group, and a configuration of a biaxial nematic liquid crystal is described by a map from Ω to ${\mathbb{S}^3/\mathcal{H}}$ . We express the (simplest form of the) Landau–de Gennes elastic free-energy density as a density defined on maps ${q: \Omega \to \mathbb{S}^3}$ , whose functional dependence is restricted by the requirements that (1) it is well defined on the class of configuration maps from Ω to ${\mathbb{S}^3/\mathcal{H}}$ (residual symmetry) and (2) it is independent of arbitrary superposed rigid rotations (frame indifference). As an application of this representation, we then discuss some properties of the corresponding energy functional, including coercivity, lower semicontinuity and strong density of smooth maps. Other invariance properties are also considered. In the discussion, we take advantage of the identification of ${\mathbb{S}^3}$ with the Lie group of unit quaternions ${Sp(1) \cong SU(2)}$ and of the relations between quaternions and rotations in ${\mathbb{R}^3}$ and ${\mathbb{R}^4}$ .     

Elucidating the Role of Interfacial Tension for Hydrological Properties of Two-Phase Flow in Natural Sandstone by an Improved Lattice Boltzmann Method

We investigated the interfacial tension (IFT) effect on fluid flow characteristics inside micro-scale, porous media by a highly efficient multi-phase lattice Boltzmann method using a graphics processing unit. IFT is one of the most important parameters for carbon capture and storage and enhanced oil recovery. Rock pores of Berea sandstone were reconstructed from micro-CT scanned images, and multi-phase flows were simulated for the digital rock model at extremely high resolution (3.2  \(\upmu \) m). Under different IFT conditions, numerical analyses were carried out first to investigate the variation in relative permeability, and then to clarify evolution of the saturation distribution of injected fluid. We confirmed that the relative permeability decreases with increasing IFT due to growing capillary trapping intensity. It was also observed that with certain pressure gradient \(\Delta P\) two crucial IFT values, \(\sigma _{1}\) and \(\sigma _{2}\) , exist, creating three zones in which the displacement process has totally different characteristics. When \(\sigma _{1}< \sigma < \sigma _{2}\) , the capillary fingering patterns are observed, while for \(\sigma < \sigma _{1}\) viscous fingering is dominant and most of the passable pore spaces were invaded. When \(\sigma > \sigma _{2}\) the invading fluid failed to break through. The pore-throat-size distribution estimated from these crucial IFT values ( \(\sigma _{1 }\) and \(\sigma _{2})\) agrees with that derived from mercury porosimetry measurements of Berea sandstone. This study demonstrates that the proposed numerical method is an efficient tool for investigating hydrological properties from pore structures.     

Slow Entropy for Noncompact Sets and Variational Principle

This paper defines and discusses the dimension notion of topological slow entropy of any subset for \({{\mathbb {Z}}}^d-\) actions. Also, the notion of measure-theoretic slow entropy for \({\mathbb {Z}}^d-\) actions is presented, which is modified from Brin and Katok (Geometric Dynamics, Springer, Berlin 1983). Relations between Bowen topological entropy Bowen (Trans Am Math, 184:125–136, 1973), and topological slow entropy are studied in this paper, and several examples of the topological slow entropy in a symbolic system are given. Specifically, a variational principle is proved.     

Liouville Type Property and Spreading Speeds of KPP Equations in Periodic Media with Localized Spatial Inhomogeneity

The current paper is devoted to the study of semilinear dispersal evolution equations of the form $$\begin{aligned} u_t(t,x)=(\mathcal {A}u)(t,x)+u(t,x)f(t,x,u(t,x)),\quad x\in \mathcal {H}, \end{aligned}$$ where $\mathcal {H}=\mathbb {R}^N$ or $\mathbb {Z}^N,\; \mathcal {A}$ is a random dispersal operator or nonlocal dispersal operator in the case $\mathcal {H}=\mathbb {R}^N$ and is a discrete dispersal operator in the case $\mathcal {H}=\mathbb {Z}^N$ , and $f$ is periodic in $t$ , asymptotically periodic in $x$ (i.e. $f(t,x,u)-f_0(t,x,u)$ converges to $0$ as $\Vert x\Vert \rightarrow \infty $ for some time and space periodic function $f_0(t,x,u)$ ), and is of KPP type in $u$ . It is proved that Liouville type property for such equations holds, that is, time periodic strictly positive solutions are unique. It is also proved that if $u\equiv 0$ is a linearly unstable solution to the time and space periodic limit equation of such an equation, then it has a unique stable time periodic strictly positive solution and has a spatial spreading speed in every direction.