In this paper, we propose a novel second-order dynamical low-rank mass-lumped finite element method for solving the Allen-Cahn (AC) equation, a semilinear parabolic partial differential equation. The matrix differential equation of the semi-discrete mass-lumped finite element scheme is decomposed into linear and nonlinear components using the second-order Strang splitting method. The linear component is solved analytically within a low-rank manifold, while the nonlinear component is discretized using a second-order augmented basis update & Galerkin (BUG) integrator, in which the $S$-step matrix equation is solved by the explicit 2-stage strong stability-preserving Runge-Kutta method. The algorithm has lower computational complexity than the full-rank mass-lump finite element method. The dynamical low-rank finite element solution is shown to conserve mass up to a truncation tolerance for the conservative Allen-Cahn equation. Meanwhile, the modified energy is dissipative up to a high-order error and is hence stable. Numerical experiments validate the theoretical results. Symmetry-preserving tests highlight the robustness of the proposed method for long-time simulations and demonstrate its superior performance compared to existing methods.
This paper proposes an Allen-Cahn Chan-Vese model to settle the multi-phase image segmentation. We first integrate the Allen--Cahn term and the Chan--Vese fitting energy term to establish an energy functional, whose minimum locates the segmentation contour. The subsequent minimization process can be attributed to variational calculation on fitting intensities and the solution approximation of several Allen-Cahn equations, wherein $n$ Allen-Cahn equations are enough to partition $m = 2^n$ segments. The derived Allen-Cahn equations are solved by efficient numerical solvers with exponential time …
Recently, the error analysis of BDF$k$ $(1\leqslant k\leqslant5)$ SAV (scalar auxiliary variable) schemes are given in \cite{Huangg:20} for the classical Allen-Cahn equation. However, it remains unavailable for BDF$6$ SAV schemes. In this paper, we construct and analyze BDF$6$ SAV schemes for the time-fractional dissipative systems. We carry out a rigorous error analysis for the time-fractional Allen-Cahn equation, which also fills up a gap for the classical case. Finally, numerical experiment is shown to illustrate the effectiveness of the presented methods. As far as we know, this is the fir…
Simulation speed depends on code structures, hence it is crucial how to build a fast algorithm. We solve the Allen-Cahn equation by an explicit finite difference method, so it requires grid calculations implemented by many for-loops in the simulation code. In terms of programming, many for-loops make the simulation speed slow. To solve the problem, we propose a model architecture containing a pad and a convolution operation for the Allen-Cahn equation. Also, the GPU operation is used to boost up the speed more. In this way, the simulation of other differential equations can be improved. In thi…
The physics informed neural networks (PINNs) has been widely utilized to numerically approximate PDE problems. While PINNs has achieved good results in producing solutions for many partial differential equations, studies have shown that it does not perform well on phase field models. In this paper, we partially address this issue by introducing a modified physics informed neural networks. In particular, they are used to numerically approximate Allen-Cahn-Ohta-Kawasaki (ACOK) equation with a volume constraint.
Numerical approximations of the Cahn-Hilliard and Allen-Cahn Equations with general nonlinear potential using the Invariant Energy Quadratization approach
University of South Carolina（南卡罗来纳大学）；Yantai University（烟台大学）
It is well known that the classic Allen-Cahn equation satisfies the maximum bound principle (MBP), that is, the absolute value of its solution is uniformly bounded for all time by certain constant under suitable initial and boundary conditions. In this paper, we consider numerical solutions of the modified Allen-Cahn equation with a Lagrange multiplier of nonlocal and local effects, which not only shares the same MBP as the original Allen-Cahn equation but also conserves the mass exactly. We reformulate the model equation with a linear stabilizing technique, then construct first- and second-or…
This paper proposes a new variational model by integrating the Allen-Cahn term with a local binary fitting energy term for segmenting images with intensity inhomogeneity and noise. An inhomogeneous graph Laplacian initialization method (IGLIM) is developed to give the initial contour for two-phase image segmentation problems. To solve the Allen-Cahn equation derived from the variational model, we adopt the exponential time differencing (ETD) method for temporal discretization, and the central finite difference method for spatial discretization. The energy stability of proposed numerical scheme…
We consider solving a generalized Allen-Cahn equation coupled with a passive convection for a given incompressible velocity field. The numerical scheme consists of the first order accurate stabilized implicit explicit time discretization and a fourth order accurate finite difference scheme, which is obtained from the finite difference formulation of the $Q^2$ spectral element method. We prove that the discrete maximum principle holds under suitable mesh size and time step constraints. The same result also applies to construct a bound-preserving scheme for any passive convection with an incompr…
The convective Allen-Cahn equation has been widely used to simulate multi-phase flows in many phase-field models. As a generalized form of the classic Allen-Cahn equation, the convective Allen-Cahn equation still preserves the maximum bound principle (MBP) in the sense that the time-dependent solution of the equation with appropriate initial and boundary conditions preserves for all time a uniform pointwise bound in absolute value. In this paper, we develop efficient first- and second-order exponential time differencing (ETD) schemes combined with the linear stabilizing technique to preserve t…
In this paper, we study numerical methods for solving the coupled Allen-Cahn/Cahn-Hilliard system associated with a free energy functional of logarithmic type. To tackle the challenge posed by the special free energy functional, we propose a method to approximate the discrete variational derivatives in polynomial forms, such that the corresponding finite difference scheme is unconditionally energy stable and the energy dissipation law is maintained. To further improve the performance of the algorithm, a modified adaptive time stepping strategy is adopted such that the time step size can be fle…
It is well-known that the Allen-Cahn equation not only satisfies the energy dissipation law but also possesses the maximum bound principle (MBP) in the sense that the absolute value of its solution is pointwise bounded for all time by some specific constant under appropriate initial/boundary conditions. In recent years, the scalar auxiliary variable (SAV) method and many of its variants have attracted much attention in numerical solution for gradient flow problems due to their inherent advantage of preserving certain discrete analogues of the energy dissipation law. However, existing SAV schem…
Phase-field models such as the Allen-Cahn equation may give rise to the formation and evolution of geometric shapes, a phenomenon that may be analyzed rigorously in suitable scaling regimes. In its sharp-interface limit, the vectorial Allen-Cahn equation with a potential with $N\geq 3$ distinct minima has been conjectured to describe the evolution of branched interfaces by multiphase mean curvature flow. In the present work, we give a rigorous proof for this statement in two and three ambient dimensions and for a suitable class of potentials: As long as a strong solution to multiphase mean cur…
We consider formal matched asymptotics to show the convergence of a degenerate area preserving surface Allen-Cahn equation to its sharp interface limit of area preserving geodesic curvature flow. The degeneracy results from a surface de Gennes-Cahn-Hilliard energy and turns out to be essential to numerically resolve the dependency of the solution on geometric properties of the surface. We experimentally demonstrate convergence of the numerical algorithm, which considers a graph formulation, adaptive finite elements and a semi-implicit discretization in time, and uses numerical solutions of the…
Phase field models, in particular, the Allen-Cahn type and Cahn-Hilliard type equations, have been widely used to investigate interfacial dynamic problems. Designing accurate, efficient, and stable numerical algorithms for solving the phase field models has been an active field for decades. In this paper, we focus on using the deep neural network to design an automatic numerical solver for the Allen-Cahn and Cahn-Hilliard equations by proposing an improved physics informed neural network (PINN). Though the PINN has been embraced to investigate many differential equation problems, we find a dir…
We propose an extension of the Allen-Cahn model for pattern synthesis on two dimensional curved surfaces. This model is based on a single PDE and it offers improved ability of controlling the type of generated surface patterns via the chosen reaction-diffusion coefficient, thus, obtaining patterns in form of spots, inverted spots, or stripes. We investigate the dependence of the type of the obtained pattern on the new proposed reaction term. An efficient operator splitting scheme is used to discretize the model on a surface. Experiments on surfaces with varying initial conditions illustrate a …
The paper studies an Allen-Cahn-type equation defined on a time-dependent surface as a model of phase separation with order-disorder transition in a thin material layer. By a formal inner-outer expansion, it is shown that the limiting behavior of the solution is a geodesic mean curvature type flow in reference coordinates. A geometrically unfitted finite element method, known as a trace FEM, is considered for the numerical solution of the equation. The paper provides full stability analysis and convergence analysis that accounts for interpolation errors and an approximate recovery of the geome…
