221 research outputs found
Convergence Analysis and Error Estimates for a Second Order Accurate Finite Element Method for the Cahn-Hilliard-Navier-Stokes System
In this paper, we present a novel second order in time mixed finite element
scheme for the Cahn-Hilliard-Navier-Stokes equations with matched densities.
The scheme combines a standard second order Crank-Nicholson method for the
Navier-Stokes equations and a modification to the Crank-Nicholson method for
the Cahn-Hilliard equation. In particular, a second order Adams-Bashforth
extrapolation and a trapezoidal rule are included to help preserve the energy
stability natural to the Cahn-Hilliard equation. We show that our scheme is
unconditionally energy stable with respect to a modification of the continuous
free energy of the PDE system. Specifically, the discrete phase variable is
shown to be bounded in and the discrete
chemical potential bounded in , for any time
and space step sizes, in two and three dimensions, and for any finite final
time . We subsequently prove that these variables along with the fluid
velocity converge with optimal rates in the appropriate energy norms in both
two and three dimensions.Comment: 33 pages. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1411.524
Computational phase-field modeling
Phase-field modeling is emerging as a promising tool for the treatment of problems with interfaces. The classical description of interface problems requires the numerical solution of partial differential equations on moving domains in which the domain motions are also unknowns. The computational treatment of these problems requires moving meshes and is very difficult when the moving domains undergo topological changes. Phase-field modeling may be understood as a methodology to reformulate interface problems as equations posed on fixed domains. In some cases, the phase-field model may be shown to converge to the moving-boundary problem as a regularization parameter tends to zero, which shows the mathematical soundness of the approach. However, this is only part of the story because phase-field models do not need to have a moving-boundary problem associated and can be rigorously derived from classical thermomechanics. In this context, the distinguishing feature is that constitutive models depend on the variational derivative of the free energy. In all, phase-field models open the opportunity for the efficient treatment of outstanding problems in computational mechanics, such as, the interaction of a large number of cracks in three dimensions, cavitation, film and nucleate boiling, tumor growth or fully three-dimensional air-water flows with surface tension. In addition, phase-field models bring a new set of challenges for numerical discretization that will excite the computational mechanics community
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