In this paper we propose and analyze a Discontinuous Galerkin method for a linear parabolic problem with dynamic boundary conditions. We present the formulation and prove stability and optimal a priori error estimates for the fully discrete scheme. M
ore precisely, using polynomials of degree $pgeq 1$ on meshes with granularity $h$ along with a backward Euler time-stepping scheme with time-step $Delta t$, we prove that the fully-discrete solution is bounded by the data and it converges, in a suitable (mesh-dependent) energy norm, to the exact solution with optimal order $h^p + Delta t$. The sharpness of the theoretical estimates are verified through several numerical experiments.
We introduce and analyze the nonlocal variants of two Cahn-Hilliard type equations with reaction terms. The first one is the so-called Cahn-Hilliard-Oono equation which models, for instance, pattern formation in diblock-copolymers as well as in binar
y alloys with induced reaction and type-I superconductors. The second one is the Cahn-Hilliard type equation introduced by Bertozzi et al. to describe image inpainting. Here we take a free energy functional which accounts for nonlocal interactions. Our choice is motivated by the work of Giacomin and Lebowitz who showed that the rigorous physical derivation of the Cahn-Hilliard equation leads to consider nonlocal functionals. The equations also have a transport term with a given velocity field and are subject to a homogenous Neumann boundary condition for the chemical potential, i.e., the first variation of the free energy functional. We first establish the well-posedness of the corresponding initial and boundary value problems in a weak setting. Then we consider such problems as dynamical systems and we show that they have bounded absorbing sets and global attractors.
We consider a diffuse interface model of tumor growth proposed by A.~Hawkins-Daruud et al. This model consists of the Cahn-Hilliard equation for the tumor cell fraction $varphi$ nonlinearly coupled with a reaction-diffusion equation for $psi$, which
represents the nutrient-rich extracellular water volume fraction. The coupling is expressed through a suitable proliferation function $p(varphi)$ multiplied by the differences of the chemical potentials for $varphi$ and $psi$. The system is equipped with no-flux boundary conditions which entails the conservation of the total mass, that is, the spatial average of $varphi+psi$. Here we prove the existence of a weak solution to the associated Cauchy problem, provided that the potential $F$ and $p$ satisfy sufficiently general conditions. Then we show that the weak solution is unique and continuously depends on the initial data, provided that $p$ satisfies slightly stronger growth restrictions. Also, we demonstrate the existence of a strong solution and that any weak solution regularizes in finite time. Finally, we prove the existence of the global attractor in a phase space characterized by an a priori bounded energy.
We consider a diffuse interface model for phase separation of an isothermal incompressible binary fluid in a Brinkman porous medium. The coupled system consists of a convective Cahn-Hilliard equation for the phase field $phi$, i.e., the difference of
the (relative) concentrations of the two phases, coupled with a modified Darcy equation proposed by H.C. Brinkman in 1947 for the fluid velocity $mathbf{u}$. This equation incorporates a diffuse interface surface force proportional to $phi abla mu$, where $mu$ is the so-called chemical potential. We analyze the well-posedness of the resulting Cahn-Hilliard-Brinkman (CHB) system for $(phi,mathbf{u})$. Then we establish the existence of a global attractor and the convergence of a given (weak) solution to a single equilibrium via {L}ojasiewicz-Simon inequality. Furthermore, we study the behavior of the solutions as the viscosity goes to zero, that is, when the CHB system approaches the Cahn-Hilliard-Hele-Shaw (CHHS) system. We first prove the existence of a weak solution to the CHHS system as limit of CHB solutions. Then, in dimension two, we estimate the difference of the solutions to CHB and CHHS systems in terms of the viscosity constant appearing in CHB.
We consider a diffuse interface model which describes the motion of an incompressible isothermal mixture of two immiscible fluids. This model consists of the Navier-Stokes equations coupled with a convective nonlocal Cahn-Hilliard equation. Several r
esults were already proven by two of the present authors. However, in the two-dimensional case, the uniqueness of weak solutions was still open. Here we establish such a result even in the case of degenerate mobility and singular potential. Moreover, we show the strong-weak uniqueness in the case of viscosity depending on the order parameter, provided that either the mobility is constant and the potential is regular or the mobility is degenerate and the potential is singular. In the case of constant viscosity, on account of the uniqueness results we can deduce the connectedness of the global attractor whose existence was obtained in a previous paper. The uniqueness technique can be adapted to show the validity of a smoothing property for the difference of two trajectories which is crucial to establish the existence of an exponential attractor. The latter is established even in the case of variable viscosity, constant mobility and regular potential.
We consider the modified phase-field crystal (MPFC) equation that has recently been proposed by P. Stefanovic et al. This is a variant of the phase-field crystal (PFC) equation, introduced by K.-R. Elder et al., which is characterized by the presence
of an inertial term $betaphi_{tt}$. Here $phi$ is the phase function standing for the number density of atoms and $betageq 0$ is a relaxation time. The associated dynamical system for the MPFC equation with respect to the parameter $beta$ is analyzed. More precisely, we establish the existence of a family of exponential attractors $mathcal{M}_beta$ that are Holder continuous with respect to $beta$.
We consider a Cahn-Hilliard equation which is the conserved gradient flow of a nonlocal total free energy functional. This functional is characterized by a Helmholtz free energy density, which can be of logarithmic type. Moreover, the spatial interac
tions between the different phases are modeled by a singular kernel. As a consequence, the chemical potential $mu$ contains an integral operator acting on the concentration difference $c$, instead of the usual Laplace operator. We analyze the equation on a bounded domain subject to no-flux boundary condition for $mu$ and by assuming constant mobility. We first establish the existence and uniqueness of a weak solution and some regularity properties. These results allow us to define a dissipative dynamical system on a suitable phase-space and we prove that such a system has a (connected) global attractor. Finally, we show that a Neumann-like boundary condition can be recovered for $c$, provided that it is supposed to be regular enough.
We consider a non-isothermal modified Cahn--Hilliard equation which was previously analyzed by M. Grasselli et al. Such an equation is characterized by an inertial term and a viscous term and it is coupled with a hyperbolic heat equation. The resulti
ng system was studied in the case of no-flux boundary conditions. Here we analyze the case in which the order parameter is subject to a dynamic boundary condition. This assumption requires a more refined strategy to extend the previous results to the present case. More precisely, we first prove the well-posedness for solutions with bounded energy as well as for weak solutions. Then we establish the existence of a global attractor. Finally, we prove the convergence of any given weak solution to a single equilibrium by using a suitable Lojasiewicz--Simon inequality.
We consider a modification of the so-called phase-field crystal (PFC) equation introduced by K.R. Elder et al. This variant has recently been proposed by P. Stefanovic et al. to distinguish between elastic relaxation and diffusion time scales. It con
sists of adding an inertial term (i.e. a second-order time derivative) into the PFC equation. The mathematical analysis of the resulting equation is more challenging with respect to the PFC equation, even at the well-posedness level. Moreover, its solutions do not regularize in finite time as in the case of PFC equation. Here we analyze the modified PFC (MPFC) equation endowed with periodic boundary conditions. We first prove the existence and uniqueness of a solution with initial data in a bounded energy space. This solution satisfies some uniform dissipative estimates which allow us to study the global longtime behavior of the corresponding dynamical system. In particular, we establish the existence of an exponential attractor. Then we demonstrate that any trajectory originating from the bounded energy phase space does converge to a unique equilibrium. This is done by means of a suitable version of the {L}ojasiewicz-Simon inequality. A convergence rate estimate is also given.
We consider a diffuse interface model for incompressible isothermal mixtures of two immiscible fluids with matched constant densities. This model consists of the Navier-Stokes system coupled with a convective nonlocal Cahn-Hilliard equation with non-
constant mobility. We first prove the existence of a global weak solution in the case of non-degenerate mobilities and regular potentials of polynomial growth. Then we extend the result to degenerate mobilities and singular (e.g. logarithmic) potentials. In the latter case we also establish the existence of the global attractor in dimension two. Using a similar technique, we show that there is a global attractor for the convective nonlocal Cahn-Hilliard equation with degenerate mobility and singular potential in dimension three.
