1,355 research outputs found
Recent advances in the evolution of interfaces: thermodynamics, upscaling, and universality
We consider the evolution of interfaces in binary mixtures permeating
strongly heterogeneous systems such as porous media. To this end, we first
review available thermodynamic formulations for binary mixtures based on
\emph{general reversible-irreversible couplings} and the associated
mathematical attempts to formulate a \emph{non-equilibrium variational
principle} in which these non-equilibrium couplings can be identified as
minimizers.
Based on this, we investigate two microscopic binary mixture formulations
fully resolving heterogeneous/perforated domains: (a) a flux-driven immiscible
fluid formulation without fluid flow; (b) a momentum-driven formulation for
quasi-static and incompressible velocity fields. In both cases we state two
novel, reliably upscaled equations for binary mixtures/multiphase fluids in
strongly heterogeneous systems by systematically taking thermodynamic features
such as free energies into account as well as the system's heterogeneity
defined on the microscale such as geometry and materials (e.g. wetting
properties). In the context of (a), we unravel a \emph{universality} with
respect to the coarsening rate due to its independence of the system's
heterogeneity, i.e. the well-known -behaviour for
homogeneous systems holds also for perforated domains.
Finally, the versatility of phase field equations and their
\emph{thermodynamic foundation} relying on free energies, make the collected
recent developments here highly promising for scientific, engineering and
industrial applications for which we provide an example for lithium batteries
New porous medium Poisson-Nernst-Planck equations for strongly oscillating electric potentials
We consider the Poisson-Nernst-Planck system which is well-accepted for
describing dilute electrolytes as well as transport of charged species in
homogeneous environments. Here, we study these equations in porous media whose
electric permittivities show a contrast compared to the electric permittivity
of the electrolyte phase. Our main result is the derivation of convenient
low-dimensional equations, that is, of effective macroscopic porous media
Poisson-Nernst-Planck equations, which reliably describe ionic transport. The
contrast in the electric permittivities between liquid and solid phase and the
heterogeneity of the porous medium induce strongly oscillating electric
potentials (fields). In order to account for this special physical scenario, we
introduce a modified asymptotic multiple-scale expansion which takes advantage
of the nonlinearly coupled structure of the ionic transport equations. This
allows for a systematic upscaling resulting in a new effective porous medium
formulation which shows a new transport term on the macroscale. Solvability of
all arising equations is rigorously verified. This emergence of a new transport
term indicates promising physical insights into the influence of the microscale
material properties on the macroscale. Hence, systematic upscaling strategies
provide a source and a prospective tool to capitalize intrinsic scale effects
for scientific, engineering, and industrial applications
A new mode reduction strategy for the generalized Kuramoto–Sivashinsky equation
Consider the generalized Kuramoto–Sivashinsky (gKS) equation. It is a model prototype for a wide variety of physical systems, from flame-front propagation, and more general front propagation in reaction–diffusion systems, to interface motion of viscous film flows. Our aim is to develop a systematic and rigorous low-dimensional representation of the gKS equation. For this purpose, we approximate it by a renormalization group equation which is qualitatively characterized by rigorous error bounds. This formulation allows for a new stochastic mode reduction guaranteeing optimality in the sense of maximal information entropy. Herewith, noise is systematically added to the reduced gKS equation and gives a rigorous and analytical explanation for its origin. These new results would allow one to reliably perform low-dimensional numerical computations by accounting for the neglected degrees of freedom in a systematic way. Moreover, the presented reduction strategy might also be useful in other applications where classical mode reduction approaches fail or are too complicated to be implemented
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