The Muskat problem, in its general setting, concerns the interface evolution between two incompressible fluids of different densities and viscosities in porous media. The interface motion is driven by gravity and capillarity forces, where the latter is due to surface tension. To leading order, both the Muskat problems with and without surface tension effect are scaling invariant in the Sobolev space $H^{1+\frac{d}{2}}(\mathbb{R}^d)$, where $d$ is the dimension of the interface. We prove that for any subcritical data satisfying the Rayleigh-Taylor condition, solutions of the Muskat problem with surface tension $\frak{s}$ converge to the unique solution of the Muskat problem without surface tension locally in time with the rate $\sqrt{\frak{s}}$ when $\frak{s}\to 0$. This allows for initial interfaces that have unbounded or even not locally square integrable curvature. If in addition the initial curvature is square integrable, we obtain the convergence with optimal rate $\frak{s}$.
Inspired by recent works on the threshold dynamics scheme for multi-phase mean curvature flow (by Esedoglu-Otto and Laux-Otto), we introduce a novel framework to approximate solutions of the Muskat problem with surface tension. Our approach is based on interpreting the Muskat problem as a gradient flow in a product Wasserstein space. This perspective allows us to construct weak solutions via a minimizing movements scheme. Rather than working directly with the singular surface tension force, we instead relax the perimeter functional with the heat content energy approximation of Esedoglu-Otto. T…
We consider the Muskat problem with surface tension for one fluid or two fluids, with or without viscosity jump, with infinite depth or Lipschitz rigid boundaries, and in arbitrary dimension $d$ of the interface. The problem is nonlocal, quasilinear, and to leading order, is scaling invariant in the Sobolev space $H^{s_c}(\mathbb{R}^d)$ with $s_c=1+\frac d2$. We prove local well-posedness for large data in all subcritical Sobolev spaces $H^s(\mathbb{R}^d)$, $s>s_c$, allowing for initial interfaces whose curvatures are unbounded and, furthermore when $d=1$, not square integrable. To the best of…
We address the well-posedness of the Muskat problem in a periodic geometry and in a setting which allows us to consider general initial and boundary data, gravity effects, as well as surface tension effects. In the absence of surface tension we prove that the Rayleigh-Taylor condition identifies a domain of parabolicity for the Muskat problem. This property is used to establish the well-posedness of the problem. In the presence of surface tension effects the Muskat problem is of parabolic type for general initial and boundary data. As a bi-product of our analysis we obtain that Dirichlet-Neuma…
We consider the Muskat problem describing the viscous displacement in a two-phase fluid system located in an unbounded two-dimensional porous medium or Hele-Shaw cell. After formulating the mathematical model as an evolution problem for the sharp interface between the fluids, we show that Muskat problem with surface tension is a quasilinear parabolic problem, whereas, in the absence of surface tension effects, the Rayleigh-Taylor condition identifies a domain of parabolicity for the fully nonlinear problem. Based upon these aspects, we then establish the local well-posedness for arbitrary larg…
We study the two-dimensional Muskat problem in a horizontally periodic setting and for fluids with arbitrary densities and viscosities. We show that in the presence of surface tension effects the Muskat problem is a quasilinear parabolic problem which is well-posed in the Sobolev space $H^r(\mathbb{S})$ for each $r\in(2,3)$. When neglecting surface tension effects, the Muskat problem is a fully nonlinear evolution equation and of parabolic type in the regime where the Rayleigh-Taylor condition is satisfied. We then establish the well-posedness of the Muskat problem in the open subset of $H^2(\…
Self-similar solutions of the three-dimensional Muskat problem with surface tension
Beijing International Center for Mathematical Research, Peking University(北京大学北京国际数学研究中心);School of Mathematics and Statistics, Northwestern Polytechnical University(西北工业大学数学与统计学院)
In this paper we consider the Muskat problem describing the motion of two unbounded immiscible fluid layers with equal viscosities in vertical or horizontal two-dimensional geometries. We first prove that the mathematical model can be formulated as an evolution problem for the sharp interface separating the two fluids, which turns out to be, in a suitable functional analytic setting, quasilinear and of parabolic type. Based upon these properties, we then establish the local well-posedness of the problem for arbitrary large initial data and show that the solutions become instantly real-analytic…
The evolution of a two-phase Hele-Shaw problem, a Muskat problem, under assumption of a negligible surface tension is considered. We use the Schwarz function approach and allow the sinks and sources to be line distributions with disjoint supports located in the exterior and the interior domains, a two-phase mother body. We give examples of exact solutions when the interface belongs to a certain family of algebraic curves, defined by the initial shape of the boundary, and the cusp formation does not occur.
We consider the free boundary problem of compressible isentropic neo-Hookean viscoelastic fluid equations with surface tension. Under the physical kinetic and dynamic conditions proposed on the free boundary, we investigate regularities of classical solutions to viscoelastic fluid equations in Sobolev spaces which are uniform in viscosity and justify the corresponding vanishing viscosity limits. The key ingredient of our proof is that the deformation gradient tensor in Lagrangian coordinates can be represented as a parameter in terms of flow map so that the inherent structure of the elastic te…
Consider the dynamics of a layer of viscous incompressible fluid under the influence of gravity. The upper boundary is a free boundary with the effect of surface tension taken into account, and the lower boundary is a fixed boundary on which the Navier-slip condition is imposed. It is proved that there is a uniform time interval on which the estimates independent of both viscosity and surface tension coefficients of the solution can be established. This then allows one to justify the vanishing viscosity and surface tension limits by the strong compactness argument. In the presence of surface t…
This paper concerns the dynamics of two layers of compressible, barotropic, viscous fluid lying atop one another. The lower fluid is bounded below by a rigid bottom, and the upper fluid is bounded above by a trivial fluid of constant pressure. This is a free boundary problem: the interfaces between the fluids and above the upper fluid are free to move. The fluids are acted on by gravity in the bulk, and at the free interfaces we consider both the case of surface tension and the case of no surface forces. We establish a sharp nonlinear global-in-time stability criterion and give the explicit de…
A simple nonlocal field theory of peridynamic type is applied to model brittle fracture. The fracture evolution is shown to converge in the limit of vanishing nonlocality to classic plane elastodynamics with a running crack. The kinetic relation for the crack is recovered directly from the nonlocal model in the limit of vanishing nonlocality. We carry out our analysis for a single crack in a plate subject to mode one loading. The convergence is corroborated by numerical experiments.
This paper concerns the dynamics of a layer of incompressible viscous fluid lying above a rigid plane and with an upper boundary given by a free surface. The fluid is subject to a constant external force with a horizontal component, which arises in modeling the motion of such a fluid down an inclined plane, after a coordinate change. We consider the problem both with and without surface tension for horizontally periodic flows. This problem gives rise to shear-flow equilibrium solutions, and the main thrust of this paper is to study the asymptotic stability of the equilibria in certain paramete…
In this paper, we investigate the uniform regularity of solutions to the 3-dimensional isentropic compressible Navier-Stokes system with free surfaces and study the corresponding asymptotic limits of such solutions to that of the compressible Euler system for vanishing viscosity and surface tension. It is shown that there exists an unique strong solution to the free boundary problem for the compressible Navier-Stokes system in a finite time interval which is independent of the viscosity and the surface tension. The solution is uniform bounded both in $W^{1,\infty}$ and a conormal Sobolev space…
In this paper, we consider a free boundary problem of the incompressible elatodynamics, a coupling system of the Euler equations for the fluid motion with a transport equation for the deformation tensor. Under a natural force balance law on the free boundary with the surface tension, we establish its well-posedness theory on a short time interval. Our method is the vanishing viscosity limit by establishing a uniform a priori estimates with respect to the viscosity. As a by-product, the inviscid limit of the incompressible viscoelasticity (the system coupling with the Navier-Stokes equations) i…
In this paper we study the motion of an internal water wave and an internal wave in a porous medium. For these problems we establish that, if the free boundary and, in the case of the Euler equations, also the tangential velocity at the interface are sufficiently smooth, the depth cannot vanish in finite time. This results holds regardless of gravity and surface tension effects or, if applicable, the stratification in multiphase flows.
The aim of this article is to derive surface wave models in the presence of surface tension and viscosity. Using the Navier-Stokes equations with a free surface, flat bottom and surface tension, we derive the viscous 2D Boussinesq system with a weak transverse variation. The assumed transverse variation is on a larger scale than along the main propagation direction. This Boussinesq system is proved to be consistent with the Navier-Stokes equations. This system is only an intermediate result that enables us to derive the Kadomtsev-Petviashvili (KP) equation which is a 2D generalization of the K…