Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T01:44:35.964Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Estimates and Computations for Melting and Solidification Problems

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 April 2002

James M. Greenberg*
Affiliation:
Carnegie Mellon University, Department of Mathematical Sciences, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA. ([email protected])
Get access

Abstract

In this paper we focus on melting and solidification processes described by phase-field models and obtain rigorous estimates for such processes. These estimates are derived in Section 2 and guarantee the convergence of solutions to non-constant equilibrium patterns. The most basic results conclude with the inequality (E2.31). The estimates in the remainder of Section 2 illustrate what obtains if the initial data is progressively more regular and may be omitted on first reading. We also present some interesting numerical simulations which demonstrate the equilibrium structures and the approach of the system to non-constant equilibrium patterns. The novel feature of these calculations is the linking of the small parameter in the system, δ, to the grid spacing, thereby producing solutions with approximate sharp interfaces. Similar ideas have been used by Caginalp and Sokolovsky [5]. A movie of these simulations may be found at http:www.math.cmu.edu/math/people/greenberg.html

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© EDP Sciences, SMAI, 2001

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Caginalp, G., An analysis of a phase-field model of a free boundary. Arch. Rat. Mech. Anal. 92 (1986) 205-245. CrossRef
Caginalp, G., Stefan and Hele-Shaw type models as asymptotic limits of the phase field equation. Phys. Rev. A 39 (1989) 5887-5896. CrossRef
Caginalp, G., Phase field models and sharp interface limits: some differences in subtle situations. Rocky Mountain J. Math. 21 (1996) 603-616. CrossRef
G. Caginalp and X. Chen, Phase field equations in the singular limit of sharp interface problems, in On the evolution of phase boundaries, IMA 43 (1990-1991) 1-28.
Caginalp, G. and Sokolovsky, E., Phase field computations of single-needle crystals, crystal growth, and motion by mean curvature. SIAM J. Sci. Comput. 15 (1994) 106-126. CrossRef
Fabbri, M. and Vollmer, V.R., The phase-field method in the sharp-interface limit: A comparison between model potentials. J. Comp. Phys. 130 (1997) 256-265. CrossRef
McFadden, G.B., Wheeler, A.A., Brown, R.J., Coriell, S.R. and Sekerka, R.F., Phase-field models for anisotropic interfaces. Phys. Rev. E 48 (1993) 2016-2024. CrossRef
Penrose, O. and Fife, P., Thermodynamically consistent models of phase-field type for the kinetics of phase transitions. Physica D 43 (1990) 44-62. CrossRef
Penrose, O. and Fife, P., On the relation between the standard phase-field model and a ``thermodynamically consistent'' phase-field model. Physica D 69 (1993) 107-113. CrossRef
Wang, S.L., Sekerka, R.F., Wheeler, A.A., Murray, B.T., Coriell, S.R., Braun, R.J. and McFadden, G.B., Thermodynamically-consistent phase-field models. Physica D 69 (1993) 189-200. CrossRef
Wang, S.L. and Sekerka, R.F., Algorithms for phase field computations of the dendritic operating state at large supercoolings. J. Comp. Phys. 127 (1996) 110-117. CrossRef