arXiv subjects

Gui-Qiang Chen

Publications and source records attributed to Gui-Qiang Chen.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2020

Maximum entropy production as a necessary admissibility condition for the fluid Navier-Stokes and Euler equations

In a particle physics dynamics, we assume a uniform distribution as the physical measure and a measure-theoretic definition of entropy on the velocity configuration space. This distribution is labeled as the physical solution in the remainder of the article. The dynamics is governed by an assumption of a Lagrangian formulation, with the velocity time derivatives as the momenta conjugate to the velocity configurations. From these definitions and assumptions, we show mathematically that a maximum entropy production principle selects the physical measure from among alternate solutions of the Navier-Stokes and Euler equations, but its transformation to an Eulerian frame is not established here, a topic that will be considered separately.

math-ph↗

arXiv2020

Loss of Regularity of Solutions of the Lighthill Problem for Shock Diffraction for Potential Flow

We are concerned with the suitability of the main models of compressible fluid dynamics for the Lighthill problem for shock diffraction by a convex corned wedge, by studying the regularity of solutions of the problem, which can be formulated as a free boundary problem. In this paper, we prove that there is no regular solution that is subsonic up to the wedge corner for potential flow. This indicates that, if the solution is subsonic at the wedge corner, at least a characteristic discontinuity (vortex sheet or entropy wave) is expected to be generated, which is consistent with the experimental and computational results. Therefore, the potential flow equation is not suitable for the Lighthill problem so that the compressible Euler system must be considered. In order to achieve the non-existence result, a weak maximum principle for the solution is established, and several other mathematical techniques are developed. The methods and techniques developed here are also useful to the other problems with similar difficulties.

math.AP↗

arXiv2018

Nonlinear Stability of Relativistic Vortex Sheets in Three-Dimensional Minkowski Spacetime

We are concerned with the nonlinear stability of vortex sheets for the relativistic Euler equations in three-dimensional Minkowski spacetime. This is a nonlinear hyperbolic problem with a characteristic free boundary. In this paper, we introduce a new symmetrization by choosing appropriate functions as primary unknowns. A necessary and sufficient condition for the weakly linear stability of relativistic vortex sheets is obtained by analyzing the roots of the Lopatinski\uı determinant associated to the constant coefficient linearized problem. Under this stability condition, we show that the variable coefficient linearized problem obeys an energy estimate with a loss of derivatives. The construction of certain weight functions plays a crucial role in absorbing error terms caused by microlocalization. Based on the weakly linear stability result, we establish the existence and nonlinear stability of relativistic vortex sheets under small initial perturbations by a Nash--Moser iteration scheme.

math.AP↗

arXiv2018

Isometric embedding via strongly symmetric positive systems

We give a new proof for the local existence of a smooth isometric embedding of a smooth $3$-dimensional Riemannian manifold with nonzero Riemannian curvature tensor into $6$-dimensional Euclidean space. Our proof avoids the sophisticated arguments via microlocal analysis used in earlier proofs. In Part 1, we introduce a new type of system of partial differential equations, which is not one of the standard types (elliptic, hyperbolic, parabolic) but satisfies a property called strong symmetric positivity. Such a PDE system is a generalization of and has properties similar to a system of ordinary differential equations with a regular singular point. A local existence theorem is then established by using a novel local-to-global-to-local approach. In Part 2, we apply this theorem to prove the local existence result for isometric embeddings.

math.DG↗

arXiv2017

Fluids, Elasticity, Geometry, and the Existence of Wrinkled Solutions

We are concerned with underlying connections between fluids, elasticity, isometric embedding of Riemannian manifolds, and the existence of wrinkled solutions of the associated nonlinear partial differential equations. In this paper, we develop such connections for the case of two spatial dimensions, and demonstrate that the continuum mechanical equations can be mapped into a corresponding geometric framework and the inherent direct application of the theory of isometric embeddings and the Gauss-Codazzi equations through examples for the Euler equations for fluids and the Euler-Lagrange equations for elastic solids. These results show that the geometric theory provides an avenue for addressing the admissibility criteria for nonlinear conservation laws in continuum mechanics.

math.AP↗

arXiv2017

Stability of Transonic Shocks in Steady Supersonic Flow past Multidimensional Wedges

We are concerned with the stability of multidimensional (M-D) transonic shocks in steady supersonic flow past multidimensional wedges. One of our motivations is that the global stability issue for the M-D case is much more sensitive than that for the 2-D case, which requires more careful rigorous mathematical analysis. In this paper, we develop a nonlinear approach and employ it to establish the stability of weak shock solutions containing a transonic shock-front for potential flow with respect to the M-D perturbation of the wedge boundary in appropriate function spaces. To achieve this, we first formulate the stability problem as a free boundary problem for nonlinear elliptic equations. Then we introduce the partial hodograph transformation to reduce the free boundary problem into a fixed boundary value problem near a background solution with fully nonlinear boundary conditions for second-order nonlinear elliptic equations in an unbounded domain. To solve this reduced problem, we linearize the nonlinear problem on the background shock solution and then, after solving this linearized elliptic problem, develop a nonlinear iteration scheme that is proved to be contractive.

math.AP↗

arXiv2017

Global Existence and Regularity for the Active Liquid Crystal System

In this paper, we study the active hydrodynamics, described in the Q-tensor liquid crystal framework. We prove the existence of global weak solutions in dimension two and three, with suitable initial datas. By using Littlewood-Paley decomposition, we also get the higher regularity of the weak solutions and the uniqueness of weak-strong solutions in dimension two.

math.AP↗

arXiv2016

Transonic Flows with Shocks Past Curved Wedges for the Full Euler Equations

We establish the existence, stability, and asymptotic behavior of transonic flows with a transonic shock past a curved wedge for the steady full Euler equations in an important physical regime, which form a nonlinear system of mixed-composite hyperbolic-elliptic type. To achieve this, we first employ the coordinate transformation of Euler-Lagrange type and then exploit one of the new equations to identify a potential function in Lagrangian coordinates. By capturing the conservation properties of the Euler system, we derive a single second-order nonlinear elliptic equation for the potential function in the subsonic region so that the transonic shock problem is reformulated as a one-phase free boundary problem for a second-order nonlinear elliptic equation with the shock-front as a free boundary. One of the advantages of this approach is that, given the shock location or quivalently the entropy function along the shock-front downstream, all the physical variables can expressed as functions of the gradient of the potential function, and the downstream asymptotic behavior of the potential function at the infinite exit can be uniquely determined with uniform decay rate. To solve the free boundary problem, we employ the hodograph transformation to transfer the free boundary to a fixed boundary, while keeping the ellipticity of the second-order equations, and then update the entropy function to prove that it has a fixed point. Another advantage in our analysis here is in the context of the real full Euler equations so that the solutions do not necessarily obey Bernoulli's law with a uniform Bernoulli constant, that is, the Bernoulli constant is allowed to change for different fluid trajectories.

math.AP↗

arXiv2016

Two-Dimensional Steady Supersonic Exothermically Reacting Euler Flow past Lipschitz Bending Walls

We are concerned with the two-dimensional steady supersonic reacting Euler flow past Lipschitz bending walls that are small perturbations of a convex one, and establish the existence of global entropy solutions when the total variation of both the initial data and the slope of the boundary is sufficiently small. The flow is governed by an ideal polytropic gas and undergoes a one-step exothermic chemical reaction under the reaction rate function that is Lipschtiz and has a positive lower bound. The heat released by the reaction may cause the total variation of the solution to increase along the flow direction. We employ the modified wave-front tracking scheme to construct approximate solutions and develop a Glimm-type functional by incorporating the approximate strong rarefaction waves and Lipschitz bending walls to obtain the uniform bound on the total variation of the approximate solutions. Then we employ this bound to prove the convergence of the approximate solutions to a global entropy solution that contains a strong rarefaction wave generated by the Lipschitz bending wall. In addition, the asymptotic behavior of the entropy solution in the flow direction is also analyzed.

math.AP↗

arXiv2015

Free Boundary Problems: The Forefront of Current and Future Developments

This is an introduction to The Theme Issue on "Free Boundary Problems and Related Topics", which consists of 14 survey/review articles on the topics, of Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Physical, Mathematical and Engineering Sciences, 373, no. 2050, The Royal Society, 2015.

math.AP↗

arXiv2013

Existence of Entropy Solutions to Two-Dimensional Steady Exothermically Reacting Euler Equations

We are concerned with the global existence of entropy solutions of the two-dimensional steady Euler equations for an ideal gas, which undergoes a one-step exothermic chemical reaction under the Arrhenius-type kinetics. The reaction rate function $ϕ(T)$ is assumed to have a positive lower bound. We first consider the Cauchy problem (the initial value problem), that is, seek a supersonic downstream reacting flow when the incoming flow is supersonic, and establish the global existence of entropy solutions when the total variation of the initial data is sufficiently small. Then we analyze the problem of steady supersonic, exothermically reacting Euler flow past a Lipschitz wedge, generating an additional detonation wave attached to the wedge vertex, which can be then formulated as an initial-boundary value problem. We establish the globally existence of entropy solutions containing the additional detonation wave (weak or strong, determined by the wedge angle at the wedge vertex) when the total variation of both the slope of the wedge boundary and the incoming flow is suitably small. The downstream asymptotic behavior of the global solutions is also obtained.

math.AP↗

arXiv2012

Weakly Nonlinear Geometric Optics for Hyperbolic Systems of Conservation Laws

We present a new approach to analyze the validation of weakly nonlinear geometric optics for entropy solutions of nonlinear hyperbolic systems of conservation laws whose eigenvalues are allowed to have constant multiplicity and corresponding characteristic fields to be linearly degenerate. The approach is based on our careful construction of more accurate auxiliary approximation to weakly nonlinear geometric optics, the properties of wave front-tracking approximate solutions, the behavior of solutions to the approximate asymptotic equations, and the standard semigroup estimates. To illustrate this approach more clearly, we focus first on the Cauchy problem for the hyperbolic systems with compact support initial data of small bounded variation and establish that the $L^1-$estimate between the entropy solution and the geometric optics expansion function is bounded by $O(\varepsilon^2)$, {\it independent of} the time variable. This implies that the simpler geometric optics expansion functions can be employed to study the behavior of general entropy solutions to hyperbolic systems of conservation laws. Finally, we extend the results to the case with non-compact support initial data of bounded variation.

math.AP↗

arXiv2012

Well-Posedness of Transonic Characteristic Discontinuities in Two-Dimensional Steady Compressible Euler Flows

In our previous work, we have established the existence of transonic characteristic discontinuities separating supersonic flows from a static gas in two-dimensional steady compressible Euler flows under a perturbation with small total variation of the incoming supersonic flow over a solid right-wedge. It is a free boundary problem in Eulerian coordinates and, across the free boundary (characteristic discontinuity), the Euler equations are of elliptic-hyperbolic composite-mixed type. In this paper, we further prove that such a transonic characteristic discontinuity solution is unique and $L^1$--stable with respect to the small perturbation of the incoming supersonic flow in Lagrangian coordinates.

math.AP↗

arXiv2012

Global Steady Subsonic Flows through Infinitely Long Nozzles for the Full Euler Equations

We are concerned with global steady subsonic flows through general infinitely long nozzles for the full Euler equations. The problem is formulated as a boundary value problem in the unbounded domain for a nonlinear elliptic equation of second order in terms of the stream function. It is established that, when the oscillation of the entropy and Bernoulli functions at the upstream is sufficiently small in $C^{1,1}$ and the mass flux is in a suitable regime, there exists a unique global subsonic solution in a suitable class of general nozzles. The assumptions are required to prevent from the occurrence of supersonic bubbles inside the nozzles. The asymptotic behavior of subsonic flows at the downstream and upstream, as well as the critical mass flux, have been clarified.

math.AP↗

arXiv2011

Prandtl-Meyer Reflection for Supersonic Flow past a Solid Ramp

We present our recent results on the Prandtl-Meyer reflection for supersonic potential flow past a solid ramp. When a steady supersonic flow passes a solid ramp, there are two possible configurations: the weak shock solution and the strong shock solution. Elling-Liu's theorem (2008) indicates that the steady supersonic weak shock solution can be regarded as a long-time asymptotics of an unsteady flow for a class of physical parameters determined by certain assumptions for potential flow. In this paper we discuss our recent progress in removing these assumptions and establishing the stability theorem for steady supersonic weak shock solutions as the long-time asymptotics of unsteady flows for all the physical parameters for potential flow. We apply new mathematical techniques developed in our recent work to obtain monotonicity properties and uniform apriori estimates for weak solutions, which allow us to employ the Leray-Schauder degree argument to complete the theory for the general case.

math.AP↗

arXiv2011

A Fluid Dynamic Formulation of the Isometric Embedding Problem in Differential Geometry

The isometric embedding problem is a fundamental problem in differential geometry. A longstanding problem is considered in this paper to characterize intrinsic metrics on a two-dimensional Riemannian manifold which can be realized as isometric immersions into the three-dimensional Euclidean space. A remarkable connection between gas dynamics and differential geometry is discussed. It is shown how the fluid dynamics can be used to formulate a geometry problem. The equations of gas dynamics are first reviewed. Then the formulation using the fluid dynamic variables in conservation laws of gas dynamics is presented for the isometric embedding problem in differential geometry.

math.AP↗

arXiv2009

Vanishing Viscosity Limit of the Navier-Stokes Equations to the Euler Equations for Compressible Fluid Flow

We establish the vanishing viscosity limit of the Navier-Stokes equations to the isentropic Euler equations for one-dimensional compressible fluid flow. For the Navier-Stokes equations, there exist no natural invariant regions for the equations with the real physical viscosity term so that the uniform sup-norm of solutions with respect to the physical viscosity coefficient may not be directly controllable and, furthermore, convex entropy-entropy flux pairs may not produce signed entropy dissipation measures. To overcome these difficulties, we first develop uniform energy-type estimates with respect to the viscosity coefficient for the solutions of the Navier-Stokes equations and establish the existence of measure-valued solutions of the isentropic Euler equations generated by the Navier-Stokes equations. Based on the uniform energy-type estimates and the features of the isentropic Euler equations, we establish that the entropy dissipation measures of the solutions of the Navier-Stokes equations for weak entropy-entropy flux pairs, generated by compactly supported $C^2$ test functions, are confined in a compact set in $H^{-1}$, which lead to the existence of measure-valued solutions that are confined by the Tartar-Murat commutator relation. A careful characterization of the unbounded support of the measure-valued solution confined by the commutator relation yields the reduction of the measure-valued solution to a Delta mass, which leads to the convergence of solutions of the Navier-Stokes equations to a finite-energy entropy solution of the isentropic Euler equations.

math.AP↗

arXiv2009

Shock Reflection-Diffraction Phenomena and Multidimensional Conservation Laws

When a plane shock hits a wedge head on, it experiences a reflection-diffraction process, and then a self-similar reflected shock moves outward as the original shock moves forward in time. The complexity of reflection-diffraction configurations was first reported by Ernst Mach in 1878, and experimental, computational, and asymptotic analysis has shown that various patterns of shock reflection-diffraction configurations may occur, including regular reflection and Mach reflection. In this paper we start with various shock reflection-diffraction phenomena, their fundamental scientific issues, and their theoretical roles as building blocks and asymptotic attractors of general solutions in the mathematical theory of multidimensional hyperbolic systems of conservation laws. Then we describe how the global problem of shock reflection-diffraction by a wedge can be formulated as a free boundary problem for nonlinear conservation laws of mixed-composite hyperbolic-elliptic type. Finally we discuss some recent developments in attacking the shock reflection-diffraction problem, including the existence, stability, and regularity of global regular reflection-diffraction solutions. The approach includes techniques to handle free boundary problems, degenerate elliptic equations, and corner singularities, which is highly motivated by experimental, computational, and asymptotic results. Further trends and open problems in this direction are also addressed.

math.AP↗