We investigate the motion by mean curvature in relative geometry by means of the modified Allen-Cahn equation, where the anisotropy is incorporated. We obtain the existence result for the solution as well as a result concerning the asymptotical behaviour with respect to the thickness parameter. By means of a numerical scheme, we can approximate the original law, as shown in several computational examples.

The paper deals with a model for water freezing in a deformable elastoplastic container. The mathematical problem consists of a system of one parabolic equation for temperature, one integrodifferential equation with a hysteresis operator for local volume increment, and one differential inclusion for the water content. The problem is shown to admit a unique global uniformly bounded weak solution.

The phase relaxation model is a diffuse interface model with small parameter ε which consists of a parabolic PDE for temperature θ and an ODE with double obstacles for phase variable χ. To decouple the system a semi-explicit Euler method with variable step-size τ is used for time discretization, which requires the stability constraint τ ≤ ε. Conforming piecewise linear finite elements over highly graded simplicial meshes with parameter h are further employed for space discretization. A posteriori...

A small vicinity of a contact line, with well-defined (micro)scales (henceforth the “microstructure”), is studied theoretically for a system of a perfectly wetting liquid, its pure vapor and a superheated flat substrate. At one end, the microstructure terminates in a non-evaporating microfilm owing to the disjoining-pressure-induced Kelvin effect. At the other end, for motionless contact lines, it terminates in a constant film slope (apparent contact...

We show existence of solutions to two types of generalized anisotropic Cahn-Hilliard problems: In the first case, we assume the mobility to be dependent on the concentration and its gradient, where the system is supplied with dynamic boundary conditions. In the second case, we deal with classical no-flux boundary conditions where the mobility depends on concentration $u$, gradient of concentration $\nabla u$ and the chemical potential $\Delta u-s^{\text{'}}\left(u\right)$. The existence is shown using a newly developed generalization of gradient...

We consider a fully practical finite element approximation of the following degenerate system$$\frac{\partial }{\partial t}\rho \left(u\right)-\nabla .\left(\alpha \left(u\right)\nabla u\right)\ni \sigma \left(u\right){\left|\nabla \phi \right|}^2,\nabla .\left(\sigma \left(u\right)\nabla \phi \right)=0$$subject to an initial condition on the temperature, $u$, and boundary conditions on both $u$ and the electric potential, $\phi$. In the above $\rho \left(u\right)$ is the enthalpy incorporating the latent heat of melting, $\alpha \left(u\right)\>0$ is the temperature dependent heat conductivity, and $\sigma \left(u\right)\ge 0$ is the electrical conductivity. The latter is zero in the frozen zone, $u\le 0$, which gives rise to the degeneracy in this Stefan system. In addition to showing stability...

We consider a fully practical finite element approximation of the following degenerate system $$\frac{\partial }{\partial t}\rho \left(u\right)-\nabla .\left(\alpha \left(u\right)\nabla u\right)\ni \sigma \left(u\right){\left|\nabla \phi \right|}^2,\nabla .\left(\sigma \left(u\right)\nabla \phi \right)=0$$ subject to an initial condition on the temperature, u, and boundary conditions on both u and the electric potential, ϕ. In the above p(u) is the enthalpy incorporating the latent heat of melting, α(u) > 0 is the temperature dependent heat conductivity, and σ(u) > 0 is the electrical conductivity. The latter is zero in the frozen zone, u ≤ 0, which gives rise to the degeneracy in this Stefan...

Regularity results of free boundaries for Stefan type problems are discussed. The influence that curvature may have on the behavior of the free boundary is studied and various open problems are also mentioned.

This paper is devoted to the analysis of a one-dimensional model for phase transition phenomena in thermoviscoelastic materials. The corresponding parabolic-hyperbolic PDE system features a strongly nonlinear internal energy balance equation, governing the evolution of the absolute temperature $\vartheta$, an evolution equation for the phase change parameter $\chi$, including constraints on the phase variable, and a hyperbolic stress-strain relation for the displacement variable $𝐮$. The main novelty of the model...

The article deals with a nonlinear generalized Ginzburg-Landau (Allen-Cahn) system of PDEs accounting for nonisothermal phase transition phenomena which was recently derived by A. Miranville and G. Schimperna: Nonisothermal phase separation based on a microforce balance, Discrete Contin. Dyn. Syst., Ser. B, 5 (2005), 753–768. The existence of solutions to a related Neumann-Robin problem is established in an $N\le 3$-dimensional space setting. A fixed point procedure guarantees the existence of solutions...

This paper addresses the Cauchy problem for the gradient flow equation in a Hilbert space $\mathscr{H}$$$\left\{\begin{array}{c}{u}^{}\hfill \end{array}\right.$$

Phase-field systems as mathematical models for phase transitions have drawn a considerable attention in recent years. However, while they are suitable for capturing many of the experimentally observed phenomena, they are only of restricted value in modelling hysteresis effects occurring during phase transition processes. To overcome this shortcoming of existing phase-field theories, the authors have recently proposed a new approach to phase-field models which is based on the mathematical theory...