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Maurizio Grasselli

Publications and source records attributed to Maurizio Grasselli.

54 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
arXiv2013

Cahn-Hilliard Equation with Nonlocal Singular Free Energies

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 interactions between the different phases are modeled by a singular kernel. As a consequence, the chemical potential $μ$ 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 $μ$ 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.

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arXiv2013

Non-isothermal viscous Cahn--Hilliard equation with inertial term and dynamic boundary conditions

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 resulting 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.

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arXiv2013

Well-posedness and longtime behavior for the modified phase-field crystal equation

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 consists 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 Łojasiewicz-Simon inequality. A convergence rate estimate is also given.

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arXiv2013

Longtime behavior of nonlocal Cahn-Hilliard equations

Here we consider the nonlocal Cahn-Hilliard equation with constant mobility in a bounded domain. We prove that the associated dynamical system has an exponential attractor, provided that the potential is regular. In order to do that a crucial step is showing the eventual boundedness of the order parameter uniformly with respect to the initial datum. This is obtained through an Alikakos-Moser type argument. We establish a similar result for the viscous nonlocal Cahn-Hilliard equation with singular (e.g., logarithmic) potential. In this case the validity of the so-called separation property is crucial. We also discuss the convergence of a solution to a single stationary state. The separation property in the nonviscous case is known to hold when the mobility degenerates at the pure phases in a proper way and the potential is of logarithmic type. Thus, the existence of an exponential attractor can be proven in this case as well.

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arXiv2013

Long-time behavior for a hydrodynamic model on nematic liquid crystal flows with asymptotic stabilizing boundary condition and external force

In this paper, we consider a simplified Ericksen-Leslie model for the nematic liquid crystal flow. The evolution system consists of the Navier-Stokes equations coupled with a convective Ginzburg-Landau type equation for the averaged molecular orientation. We suppose that the Navier-Stokes equations are characterized by a no-slip boundary condition and a time-dependent external force g(t), while the equation for the molecular director is subject to a time-dependent Dirichlet boundary condition h(t). We show that, in 2D, each global weak solution converges to a single stationary state when h(t) and g(t) converge to a time-independent boundary datum h_\infty and 0, respectively. Estimates on the convergence rate are also obtained. In the 3D case, we prove that global weak solutions are eventually strong so that results similar to the 2D case can be proven. We also show the existence of global strong solutions, provided that either the viscosity is large enough or the initial datum is close to a given equilibrium.

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arXiv2013

Strong solutions for two-dimensional nonlocal Cahn-Hilliard-Navier-Stokes systems

A well-known diffuse interface model for incompressible isothermal mixtures of two immiscible fluids consists of the Navier-Stokes system coupled with a convective Cahn-Hilliard equation. In some recent contributions the standard Cahn-Hilliard equation has been replaced by its nonlocal version. The corresponding system is physically more relevant and mathematically more challenging. Indeed, the only known results are essentially the existence of a global weak solution and the existence of a suitable notion of global attractor for the corresponding dynamical system defined without uniqueness. In fact, even in the two-dimensional case, uniqueness of weak solutions is still an open problem. Here we take a step forward in the case of regular potentials. First we prove the existence of a (unique) strong solution in two dimensions. Then we show that any weak solution regularizes in finite time uniformly with respect to bounded sets of initial data. This result allows us to deduce that the global attractor is the union of all the bounded complete trajectories which are strong solutions. We also demonstrate that each trajectory converges to a single equilibrium, provided that the potential is real analytic and the external forces vanish.

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arXiv2012

Finite--dimensional global attractor for a system modeling the 2D nematic liquid crystal flow

We consider a 2D system that models the nematic liquid crystal flow through the Navier--Stokes equations suitably coupled with a transport-reaction-diffusion equation for the averaged molecular orientations. This system has been proposed as a reasonable approximation of the well-known Ericksen--Leslie system. Taking advantage of previous well-posedness results and proving suitable dissipative estimates, here we show that the system endowed with periodic boundary conditions is a dissipative dynamical system with a smooth global attractor of finite fractal dimension.

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arXiv2012

Nonlocal Cahn-Hilliard-Navier-Stokes systems with singular potentials

Here we consider a Cahn-Hilliard-Navier-Stokes system characterized by a nonlocal Cahn-Hilliard equation with a singular (e.g., logarithmic) potential. This system originates from a diffuse interface model for incompressible isothermal mixtures of two immiscible fluids. We have already analyzed the case of smooth potentials with arbitrary polynomial growth. Here, taking advantage of the previous results, we study this more challenging (and physically relevant) case. We first establish the existence of a global weak solution with no-slip and no-flux boundary conditions. Then we prove the existence of the global attractor for the 2D generalized semiflow (in the sense of J.M. Ball). We recall that uniqueness is still an open issue even in 2D. We also obtain, as byproduct, the existence of a connected global attractor for the (convective) nonlocal Cahn-Hilliard equation. Finally, in the 3D case, we establish the existence of a trajectory attractor (in the sense of V.V. Chepyzhov and M.I. Vishik).

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arXiv2011

Nonlocal phase-field systems with general potentials

We consider a phase-field model where the internal energy depends on the order parameter in a nonlocal way. Therefore, the resulting system consists of the energy balance equation coupled with a nonlinear and nonlocal ODE for the order parameter. Such system has been analyzed by several authors, in particular when the configuration potential is a smooth double-well function. More recently, in the case of a potential defined on (-1,1) and singular at the endpoints, the existence of a finite-dimensional global attractor has been proven. Here we examine both the case of smooth potentials as well as the case of physically realistic (e.g., logarithmic) singular potentials. We prove well-posedness results and the eventual global boundedness of solutions uniformly with respect to the initial data. In addition, we show that the separation property holds in the case of singular potentials. Thanks to these results, we are able to demonstrate the existence of a finite-dimensional attractors in the present cases as well.

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arXiv2011

Finite-dimensional global attractor for a nonlocal phase-field system

We analyze a phase-field system where the energy balance equation is linearly coupled with a nonlinear and nonlocal ODE for the order parameter $χ$. The latter equation is characterized by a space convolution term which models particle interaction and a singular configuration potential that forces $χ$ to take values in $(-1,1)$. We prove that the corresponding dynamical system has a bounded absorbing set in a suitable phase space. Then we establish the existence of a finite-dimensional global attractor.

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arXiv2011

Global and trajectory attractors for a nonlocal Cahn-Hilliard-Navier-Stokes system

The Cahn-Hilliard-Navier-Stokes system is based on a well-known diffuse interface model and describes the evolution of an incompressible isothermal mixture of binary fluids. A nonlocal variant consists of the Navier-Stokes equations suitably coupled with a nonlocal Cahn-Hilliard equation. The authors, jointly with P. Colli, have already proven the existence of a global weak solution to a nonlocal Cahn-Hilliard-Navier-Stokes system subject to no-slip and no-flux boundary conditions. Uniqueness is still an open issue even in dimension two. However, in this case, the energy identity holds. This property is exploited here to define, following J.M. Ball's approach, a generalized semiflow which has a global attractor. Through a similar argument, we can also show the existence of a (connected) global attractor for the convective nonlocal Cahn-Hilliard equation with a given velocity field, even in dimension three. Finally, we demonstrate that any weak solution fulfilling the energy inequality also satisfies an energy inequality. This allows us to establish the existence of the trajectory attractor also in dimension three with a time dependent external force.

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arXiv2011

Global Existence of Weak Solutions to a Nonlocal Cahn-Hilliard-Navier-Stokes System

A well-known diffuse interface model consists of the Navier-Stokes equations nonlinearly coupled with a convective Cahn-Hilliard type equation. This system describes the evolution of an incompressible isothermal mixture of binary-fluids and it has been investigated by many authors. Here we consider a variant of this model where the standard Cahn-Hilliard equation is replaced by its nonlocal version. More precisely, the gradient term in the free energy functional is replaced by a spatial convolution operator acting on the order parameter phi, while the potential F may have any polynomial growth. Therefore the coupling with the Navier-Stokes equations is difficult to handle even in two spatial dimensions because of the lack of regularity of phi. We establish the global existence of a weak solution. In the two-dimensional case we also prove that such a solution satisfies the energy identity and a dissipative estimate, provided that F fulfills a suitable coercivity condition.

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arXiv2009

Attractors for nonlinear reaction-diffusion systems in unbounded domains via the method of short trajectories

We consider a nonlinear reaction-diffusion equation settled on the whole euclidean space. We prove the well-posedness of the corresponding Cauchy problem in a general functional setting, namely, when the initial datum is uniformly locally bounded in L^2. Then we adapt the short trajectory method to establish the existence of the global attractor and, if the space dimension is at most 3, we also find an upper bound of its Kolmogorov's entropy.

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arXiv2009

Trajectory and smooth attractors for Cahn-Hilliard equations with inertial term

The paper is devoted to a modification of the classical Cahn-Hilliard equation proposed by some physicists. This modification is obtained by adding the second time derivative of the order parameter multiplied by an inertial coefficient which is usually small in comparison to the other physical constants. The main feature of this equation is the fact that even a globally bounded nonlinearity is "supercritical" in the case of two and three space dimensions. Thus the standard methods used for studying semilinear hyperbolic equations are not very effective in the present case. Nevertheless, we have recently proven the global existence and dissipativity of strong solutions in the 2D case (with a cubic controlled growth nonlinearity) and for the 3D case with small inertial coefficient and arbitrary growth rate of the nonlinearity. The present contribution studies the long-time behavior of rather weak (energy) solutions of that equation and it is a natural complement of the results of our previous papers. Namely, we prove here that the attractors for energy and strong solutions coincide for both the cases mentioned above. Thus, the energy solutions are asymptotically smooth. In addition, we show that the non-smooth part of any energy solution decays exponentially in time and deduce that the (smooth) exponential attractor for the strong solutions constructed previously is simultaneously the exponential attractor for the energy solutions as well.

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arXiv2008

Asymptotic behavior of a thermoviscoelastic plate with memory effects

We consider a coupled linear system describing a thermoviscoelastic plate with hereditary effects. The system consists of a hyperbolic integrodifferential equation, governing the temperature, which is linearly coupled with the partial differential equation ruling the evolution of the vertical deflection, presenting a convolution term accounting for memory effects. It is also assumed that the thermal power contains a memory term characterized by a relaxation kernel. We prove that the system is exponentially stable and we obtain a closeness estimate between the system with memory effects and the corresponding memory-free limiting system, as the kernels fade in a suitable sense.

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arXiv2008

On the 2D Cahn-Hilliard equation with inertial term

P. Galenko et al. proposed a modified Cahn-Hilliard equation to model rapid spinodal decomposition in non-equilibrium phase separation processes. This equation contains an inertial term which causes the loss of any regularizing effect on the solutions. Here we consider an initial and boundary value problem for this equation in a two-dimensional bounded domain. We prove a number of results related to well-posedness and large time behavior of solutions. In particular, we analyze the existence of bounded absorbing sets in two different phase spaces and, correspondingly, we establish the existence of the global attractor. We also demonstrate the existence of an exponential attractor.

math.AP↗
arXiv2006

Asymptotic behavior of a nonisothermal viscous Cahn-Hilliard equation with inertial term

We consider a differential model describing nonisothermal fast phase separation processes taking place in a three-dimensional bounded domain. This model consists of a viscous Cahn-Hilliard equation characterized by the presence of an inertial term $χ_{tt}$, $χ$ being the order parameter, which is linearly coupled with an evolution equation for the (relative) temperature $\teta$. The latter can be of hyperbolic type if the Cattaneo-Maxwell heat conduction law is assumed. The state variables and the chemical potential are subject to the homogeneous Neumann boundary conditions. We first provide conditions which ensure the well-posedness of the initial and boundary value problem. Then, we prove that the corresponding dynamical system is dissipative and possesses a global attractor. Moreover, assuming that the nonlinear potential is real analytic, we establish that each trajectory converges to a single steady state by using a suitable version of the Lojasiewicz-Simon inequality. We also obtain an estimate of the decay rate to equilibrium.

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