Based on a thermodynamically consistent model for precipitation in gallium arsenide crystals including surface tension and bulk stresses by Dreyer and Duderstadt, we propose different mathematical models to describe the size evolution of liquid droplets in a crystalline solid. The first class of models treats the diffusion-controlled regime of interface motion, while the second class is concerned with the interface-controlled regime of interface motion. Our models take care of conservation of mass and substance. We consider homogenised models, where different length scales of the experimental situation have been exploited in order to simplify the equations. These homogenised models generalise the well-known Lifshitz-Slyozov-Wagner model for Ostwald ripening. Mean field models capture the main properties of our system and are well adapted for numerics and further analysis. Numerical evidence suggests in which case which one of the two regimes might be appropriate to the experimental situation.
The focus of this note lies on the numerical analysis of models describing the propagation
of a single crack in a linearly elastic material. The evolution of the crack is modeled as a
rate-independent process based on the Griffith criterion. We follow two different approaches
for setting up mathematically well defined models: the global energetic approach and an
approach based on a viscous regularization.
We prove the convergence of solutions of fully discretized models (i.e. with respect to time
and space) and derive relations between the discretization parameters (mesh size, time step
size, viscosity parameter, crack increment) which guarantee the convergence of the schemes.
Further, convergence rates are provided for the approximation of energy release rates by
certain discrete energy release rates. Thereby we discuss both, models with self-contact
conditions on the crack faces as well as models with pure Neumann conditions on the crack
faces. The convergence proofs rely on regularity estimates for the elastic fields close to the
crack tip and local and global finite element error estimates. Finally the theoretical results
are illustrated with some numerical calculations.
We analyze a rate-independent model for damage evolution in elastic bodies. The central quantities are a stored energy functional and a dissipation functional, which is assumed to be positively homogeneous of degree one. Since the energy is not simultaneously (strictly) convex in the damage variable and the displacements, solutions may have jumps as a function of time. The latter circumstance makes it necessary to recur to suitable notions of weak solution. However, the by-now classical concept of global energetic solution fails to describe accurately the behavior of the system at jumps.
Hence, we consider rate-independent damage models as limits of systems driven by viscous, rate-dependent dissipation. We use a technique for taking the vanishing viscosity limit, which is based on arc-length reparameterization. In this way, in the limit we obtain a novel formulation for the rate-independent damage model, which highlights the interplay of viscous and rate-independent effects in the jump regime, and provides a better description of the energetic behavior of the system at jumps.
Existence result for a class of generalized standard materials with thermomechanical coupling
(2012)
This paper deals with the study of a three-dimensional model of thermomechanical coupling for viscous solids exhibiting hysteresis effects. This model is written in accordance with the formalism of generalized standard materials. It is composed by the momentum equilibrium equation combined with the flow rule, which describes some stress-strain dependance, and the heat-transfer equation. An existence result for this thermodynamically consistent problem is obtained by using a fixed-point argument and some qualitative properties of the solutions are established.
This paper discusses adaptive finite element methods (AFEMs) for the solution of elliptic eigenvalue problems associated with partial differential operators. An adaptive method based on nodal-patch refinement leads to an asymptotic error reduction property for the computed sequence of simple eigenvalues and eigenfunctions. This justifies the use of the proven saturation property for a class of reliable and efficient hierarchical a posteriori error estimators. Numerical experiments confirm that the saturation property is present even for very coarse meshes for many examples; in other cases the smallness assumption on the initial mesh may be severe.
Optimal Thickness of a Cylindrical Shell -- An Optimal Control Problem in Linear Elasticity Theory
(2012)
In this paper we discuss optimization problems for cylindrical tubes which are loaded by an applied force. This is a problem of optimal control in linear elasticity theory (shape optimization). We are looking for an optimal thickness minimizing the deflection (deformation) of the tube under the influence of an external force.
From basic equations of mechanics, we derive the equation of deformation. We apply the displacement approach from shell theory and make use of the hypotheses of
Mindlin and Reissner. A corresponding optimal control problem is formulated and first order necessary conditions for the optimal solution (optimal thickness) are derived.
We present numerical examples which were solved by the finite element method.
We discuss shape optimization problems for cylindrical tubes that are loaded by time-dependent applied force. This is a problem of shape optimization that leads to optimal control in linear elasticity theory. We determine the optimal thickness of a cylindrical tube minimizing the deformation of the tube under the influence of the external force. The main difficulty is that the state equation is a hyperbolic partial differential equation of 4th order. First order necessary conditions for the optimal solution are derived. Based on them, a numerical method is set up and numerical examples are presented.
Some optimal control problems for linear and nonlinear ordinary differential equations related to the optimal switching between
different magnetic fields are considered. The main aim is to move an electrical initial current by a controllable
voltage in shortest time to a desired terminal current and to hold it afterwards. Necessary optimality conditions are derived by
Pontryagin's principle and a Lagrange technique. In the case of a linear system, the principal structure of time-optimal controls is
discussed. The associated optimality systems are solved by a one-shot strategy
using a multigrid software package. Various numerical examples are discussed.
Global spatial regularity for elasticity models with cracks, contact and other nonsmooth constraints
(2012)
A global higher differentiability result in Besov
spaces is proved for the displacement fields of linear elastic models
with self contact.
Domains with cracks are studied, where nonpenetration
conditions/Signorini conditions are imposed on the crack faces.
It is shown that
in a neighborhood of crack tips (in 2D) or
crack fronts (3D) the displacement fields are
$B^{3/2}_{2,\infty}$ regular.
The proof relies on a difference
quotient argument for the directions tangential to the crack. In order
to obtain the regularity estimates also in the normal direction, an
argument due to
Ebmeyer/Frehse/Kassmann is modified.
The methods are then applied to further examples like
contact problems with nonsmooth rigid foundations, to a model with
Tresca friction and
to minimization problems with
nonsmooth energies and constraints as they occur for instance in the modeling of
shape memory alloys.
Based on Falk's approximation Theorem for variational
inequalities, convergence rates for FE-discretizations of contact
problems are derived relying on the proven regularity properties.
Several numerical examples illustrate the theoretical results.
Global higher integrability of minimizers of variational problems with mixed boundary conditions
(2012)
We consider integral functionals with densities of p-growth, with respect to gradients, on a Lipschitz domain with mixed boundary conditions. The aim of this paper is to prove that, under uniform estimates within certain classes of p-growth and coercivity assumptions on the density, the minimizers are of higher integrability order, meaning that they belong to the space of first order Sobolev functions with an integrability of order $p+\epsilon$ for a uniform $\epsilon >0$. The results are applied to a model describing damage evolution in a nonlinear elastic body and to a model for shape memory alloys.
This paper focuses on
rate-independent damage in elastic bodies. Since the driving energy is nonconvex,
solutions may have jumps as a function of time, and in this situation it is known that the classical concept
of energetic solutions for rate-independent systems
may fail to accurately describe the
behavior of the system at jumps.
Therefore, we resort to the (by now well-established) vanishing viscosity approach to rate-independent modeling
and approximate the model by its viscous regularization.
In fact, the analysis of the latter PDE system presents
remarkable difficulties, due to its highly nonlinear character.
We tackle it by combining a variational approach to a class of abstract doubly nonlinear evolution equations, with
careful regularity estimates tailored to this specific system relying on a q-Laplacian type gradient regularization of the damage variable.
Hence, for the viscous problem we conclude the existence of weak solutions satisfying a
suitable energy-dissipation inequality that is the starting point for the vanishing viscosity analysis.
The latter leads to the notion of (weak) parameterized
solution to our rate-independent system,
which encompasses the influence of viscosity in the description of the jump regime.
Several classes of optimal control of electromagnetic fields are considered. Special emphasis is
laid on a non-standard $H$-based formulation of the equations of electromagnetism in multiply connected conductors. By this technique, the Maxwell equations can be solved with reduced computational complexity. While the magnetic field $H$ in the conductor is obtained from an elliptic equation
with the $\curl \sigma^{-1} \curl$ operator, an elliptic equation with the $\div \mu \nabla$ operator is set up for a potential $\psi$ in the isolator.
Both equations are coupled by appropriate interface conditions. In all problems, the
electrical current is controlled in the conducting domain. Several types of control functions are discussed. In particular, the problem of sparse optimal control is investigated in a package of electrical wires. For all problems, the associated sensitivity
analysis is performed.
This paper is concerned with the distributed optimal control of a
time-discrete Cahn--Hilliard/Navier--Stokes system with variable
densities.
It focuses on the double-obstacle potential which yields an optimal
control problem for a family of coupled systems in each time instance of a
variational inequality of fourth order and the Navier--Stokes equation.
By proposing a suitable time-discretization, energy estimates are proved
and the existence of solutions to the primal system and of optimal
controls is established for the original problem as well as for a family
of regularized problems. The latter correspond to Moreau--Yosida type
approximations of the double-obstacle potential. The consistency of these
approximations is shown and first order optimality conditions for the
regularized problems are derived. Through a limit process, a stationarity
system for the original problem is established which is related to a
function space version of C-stationarity.
Two optimal control problems for instationary magnetization
processes are considered in 3D spatial domains that
include electrically conducting and nonconducting regions. The magnetic
fields are generated by induction coils. In the first model, the induction coil
is considered as part of the conducting region and the electrical current is taken
as control. In the second, the coil is viewed as part of the nonconducting region and the
electrical voltage is the control. Here, an integro-differential equation accounts
for the magnetic induction law that couples the given
electrical voltage with the induced electrical current in the
induction coil.
We derive first-order necessary
optimality condition for the optimal controls of both problems. Based on them,
numerical methods of gradient type are applied. Moreover, we report on the application
of model reduction by POD that lead to tremendous savings. Numerical tests are
presented for academic 3D geometries but also for a real-world application.
Uncertainty is inevitable when solving science and engineering application problems. In the face of
uncertainty, it is essential to determine robust and risk-averse solutions. In this work,
we consider a class of PDE-constrained optimization problems in which the PDE coefficients
and inputs may be uncertain. We introduce two approximations for minimizing the
conditional value-at-risk for such PDE-constrained optimization problems. These approximations are based
on the primal and dual formulations of the conditional value-at-risk. For the primal problem,
we introduce a smooth approximation of the conditional value-at-risk in order to utilize
derivative-based optimization algorithms and to take advantage of the convergence properties
of quadrature-based discretizations. For this smoothed conditional value-at-risk, we prove
differentiability as well as consistency of our approximation. For the dual problem, we
regularize the inner maximization problem, rigorously derive optimality conditions, and demonstrate
the consistency of our approximation. Furthermore, we propose a fixed-point iteration that takes
advantage of the structure of the regularized optimality conditions and provides a means of calculating
worst-case probability distributions based on the given probability level. We conclude with numerical
results.
We derive thermodynamically consistent models of reaction-diffusion equations
coupled to a heat equation. While the total energy is conserved, the total
entropy serves as a driving functional such that the full coupled system is a
gradient flow. The novelty of the approach is the Onsager structure, which is
the dual form of a gradient system, and the formulation in terms of the
densities and the internal energy. In these variables it is possible to assume
that the entropy density is strictly concave such that there is a unique
maximizer (thermodynamical equilibrium) given linear constraints on the total
energy and suitable density constraints.
We consider two particular systems of this type, namely, a
diffusion-reaction bipolar energy transport system, and a
drift-diffusion-reaction energy
transport system with confining potential. We prove corresponding
entropy-entropy production inequalities with explicitly calculable constants
and establish the convergence to thermodynamical equilibrium, at first in
entropy and further in $L^1$ using Cziszar-Kullback-Pinsker type inequalities.
We discuss analytical and numerical methods for the optimization of optoelectronic devices by performing optimal control of the PDE governing the carrier transport with respect to the doping profile. First, we provide a cost functional that is a sum of a regularization and a contribution, which is motivated by the modal net gain that appears in optoelectronic models of bulk or quantum- well lasers. Then, we state a numerical discretization, for which we study optimized solutions for different regularizations and for vanishing weights.
We present a globally convergent method for the solution of frictionless large deformation contact problems involving hyperelastic materials.
For the discretisation we apply the dual mortar method which is known to be more stable than node-to-segment approaches. The resulting non-convex constrained minimisation problems are solved using a filter–trust-region scheme.
This method combines several techniques from non-linear optimisation to achieve global convergence towards first-order optimal points. To speed up the method inexact linearisations of the non-penetration constraint are used
whenever the current iterate is far away from a critical point. A monotone multigrid method is applied for the fast solution of the constrained Newton
problems.
A mathematical model is set up that can be useful for controlled voltage excitation in time-dependent electromagnetism.
The well-posedness of the model is proved and an associated optimal control problem is investigated. Here, the control
function is a transient voltage and the aim of the control is the best approximation of desired electric and magnetic fields in
suitable $L^2$-norms.
Special emphasis is laid on an adjoint calculus for first-order necessary optimality conditions.
Moreover, a {peculiar attention is devoted to propose a formulation for which the computational complexity of the finite element solution method is substantially reduced}.
An optimal control problem is studied for a quasilinear Maxwell equation of nondegenerate parabolic
type. Well-posedness of the quasilinear state equation, existence of an optimal control, and weak G\^ateaux-differentiability of the control-to-state mapping are proved. Based on these results, first-order necessary optimality conditions and
an associated adjoint calculus are derived.