"Entropic" solutions to a thermodynamically consistent PDE system for phase transitions and damage
Abstract
In this paper we analyze a PDE system modelling (non-isothermal) phase transitions and damage phenomena in thermoviscoelastic materials. The model is thermodynamically consistent: in particular, no {\em small perturbation assumption} is adopted, which results in the presence of quadratic terms on the right-hand side of the temperature equation, only estimated in . The whole system has a highly nonlinear character. We address the existence of a weak notion of solution, referred to as "entropic", where the temperature equation is formulated with the aid of an entropy inequality, and of a total energy inequality. This solvability concept reflects the basic principles of thermomechanics as well as the thermodynamical consistency of the model. It allows us to obtain \emph{global-in-time} existence theorems without imposing any restriction on the size of the initial data. We prove our results by passing to the limit in a time discretization scheme, carefully tailored to the nonlinear features of the PDE system (with its "entropic" formulation), and of the a priori estimates performed on it. Our time-discrete analysis could be useful towards the numerical study of this model.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1403.2577,
title = {"Entropic" solutions to a thermodynamically consistent PDE system for phase transitions and damage},
author = {Elisabetta Rocca and Riccarda Rossi},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1403.2577},
year = {2014}
}