A Lie symmetry analysis and explicit solutions of the two‐dimensional ∞‐Polylaplacian

In this work, we consider the Lie point symmetry analysis of a strongly nonlinear partial differential equation of third order, the ∞‐Polylaplacian, in two spatial dimensions. This equation is a higher order generalization of the ∞‐Laplacian, also known as Aronsson's equation, and arises as the analog of the Euler–Lagrange equations of a second‐order variational principle in L^∞. We obtain its full symmetry group, one‐dimensional Lie subalgebras and the corresponding symmetry reductions to ordinary differential equations. Finally, we use the Lie symmetries to construct new invariant ∞‐Polyharmonic functions.     

Noether-Type Discrete Conserved Quantities Arising from a Finite Element Approximation of a Variational Problem

In this work, we prove a weak Noether-type Theorem for a class of variational problems that admit broken extremals. We use this result to prove discrete Noether-type conservation laws for a conforming finite element discretisation of a model elliptic problem. In addition, we study how well the finite element scheme satisfies the continuous conservation laws arising from the application of Noether’s first theorem (1918). We summarise extensive numerical tests, illustrating the conservation of the discrete Noether law using the p-Laplacian as an example and derive a geometric-based adaptive algorithm where an appropriate Noether quantity is the goal functional.     

On the numerical approximation of p‐biharmonic and ∞‐biharmonic functions

The ∞ ‐Bilaplacian is a third‐order fully nonlinear PDE given by (1) In this work, we build a numerical method aimed at quantifying the nature of solutions to this problem, which we call ∞ ‐biharmonic functions. For fixed p we design a mixed finite element scheme for the prelimiting equation, the p‐Bilaplacian (2) We prove convergence of the numerical solution to the weak solution of and show that we are able to pass to the limit p → ∞ . We perform various tests aimed at understanding the nature of solutions of and we prove convergence of our discretization to an appropriate weak solution concept of this problem that of ‐solutions.     

On the numerical approximation of $$\infty $$-harmonic mappings

A map \(u : \Omega \subseteq \mathbb {R}^n \longrightarrow \mathbb {R}^N\), is said to be \(\infty \)-harmonic if it satisfies

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(1)

The system (1) is the model of vector-valued Calculus of Variations in \(L^\infty \) and arises as the “Euler-Lagrange” equation in relation to the supremal functional

$$\begin{aligned} E_\infty (u,\Omega )\, :=\, \Vert \text {D}u \Vert _{L^\infty (\Omega )}. \end{aligned}$$

(2)

In this work we provide numerical approximations of solutions to the Dirichlet problem when \(n=2\) and in the vector valued case of \(N=2,3\) for certain carefully selected boundary data on the unit square. Our experiments demonstrate interesting and unexpected phenomena occurring in the vector valued case and provide insights on the structure of general solutions and the natural separation to phases they present.

     

Surface Permeability of Particulate Porous Media

The dispersion process in particulate porous media at low saturation levels takes place over the surface elements of constituent particles and, as we have found previously by comparison with experiments, can be accurately described by superfast nonlinear diffusion partial differential equations. To enhance the predictive power of the mathematical model in practical applications, one requires the knowledge of the effective surface permeability of the particle-in-contact ensemble, which can be directly related with the macroscopic permeability of the particulate media. We have shown previously that permeability of a single particulate element can be accurately determined through the solution of the Laplace–Beltrami Dirichlet boundary value problem. Here, we demonstrate how that methodology can be applied to study permeability of a randomly packed ensemble of interconnected particles. Using surface finite element techniques, we examine numerical solutions to the Laplace–Beltrami problem set in the multiply-connected domains of interconnected particles. We are able to directly estimate tortuosity effects of the surface flows in the particle ensemble setting.