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We consider a system consisting of a geometric evolution equation for a hypersurface and a parabolic equation on this evolving hypersurface. More precisely, we discuss mean curvature flow scaled with a term that depends on a quantity defined on the surface coupled to a diffusion equation for that quantity. Several properties of solutions are analyzed. Emphasis is placed on to what extent the surface in our setting qualitatively evolves similar as for the usual mean curvature flow. To this end, we show that the surface area is strictly decreasing but give an example of a surface that exists for infinite times nevertheless. Moreover, mean convexity is conserved whereas convexity is not. Finally, we construct an embedded hypersurface that develops a self-intersection in the course of time. Additionally, a formal explanation of how our equations can be interpreted as a gradient flow is included., 30 pages

We introduce a new phase field model for tumor growth where viscoelastic effects are taken into account. The model is derived from basic thermodynamical principles and consists of a convected Cahn–Hilliard equation with source terms for the tumor cells and a convected reaction–diffusion equation with boundary supply for the nutrient. Chemotactic terms, which are essential for the invasive behavior of tumors, are taken into account. The model is completed by a viscoelastic system consisting of the Navier–Stokes equation for the hydrodynamic quantities, and a general constitutive equation with stress relaxation for the left Cauchy–Green tensor associated with the elastic part of the total mechanical response of the viscoelastic material. For a specific choice of the elastic energy density and with an additional dissipative term accounting for stress diffusion, we prove existence of global-in-time weak solutions of the viscoelastic model for tumor growth in two space dimensions [Formula: see text] by the passage to the limit in a fully-discrete finite element scheme where a CFL condition, i.e. [Formula: see text], is required. Moreover, in arbitrary dimensions [Formula: see text], we show stability and existence of solutions for the fully-discrete finite element scheme, where positive definiteness of the discrete Cauchy–Green tensor is proved with a regularization technique that was first introduced by Barrett and Boyaval [Existence and approximation of a (regularized) Oldroyd-B model, Math. Models Methods Appl. Sci. 21 (2011) 1783–1837]. After that, we improve the regularity results in arbitrary dimensions [Formula: see text] and in two dimensions [Formula: see text], where a CFL condition is required. Then, in two dimensions [Formula: see text], we pass to the limit in the discretization parameters and show that subsequences of discrete solutions converge to a global-in-time weak solution. Finally, we present numerical results in two dimensions [Formula: see text].

This work concerns a structural topology optimisation problem for 4D printing based on the phase field approach. The concept of 4D printing as a targeted evolution of 3D printed structures can be realised in a two-step process. One first fabricates a 3D object with multi-material active composites and apply external loads in the programming stage. Then, a change in an environmental stimulus and the removal of loads cause the object deform in the programmed stage. The dynamic transition between the original and deformed shapes is achieved with appropriate applications of the stimulus. The mathematical interest is to find an optimal distribution for the materials such that the 3D printed object achieves a targeted configuration in the programmed stage as best as possible. Casting the problem as a PDE-constrained minimisation problem, we consider a vector-valued order parameter representing the volume fractions of the different materials in the composite as a control variable. We prove the existence of optimal designs and formulate first order necessary conditions for minimisers. Moreover, by suitable asymptotic techniques, we relate our approach to a sharp interface description. Finally, the theoretical results are validated by several numerical simulations both in two and three space dimensions., 41 pages, 54 figures

For a hypersurface in ${\mathbb R}^3$, Willmore flow is defined as the $L^2$--gradient flow of the classical Willmore energy: the integral of the squared mean curvature. This geometric evolution law is of interest in differential geometry, image reconstruction and mathematical biology. In this paper, we propose novel numerical approximations for the Willmore flow of axisymmetric hypersurfaces. For the semidiscrete continuous-in-time variants we prove a stability result. We consider both closed surfaces, and surfaces with a boundary. In the latter case, we carefully derive weak formulations of suitable boundary conditions. Furthermore, we consider many generalizations of the classical Willmore energy, particularly those that play a role in the study of biomembranes. In the generalized models we include spontaneous curvature and area difference elasticity (ADE) effects, Gaussian curvature and line energy contributions. Several numerical experiments demonstrate the efficiency and robustness of our developed numerical methods., 52 pages, 19 figures

In this paper, we study an optimal control problem for a macroscopic mechanical tumour model based on the phase field approach. The model couples a Cahn--Hilliard type equation to a system of linear elasticity and a reaction-diffusion equation for a nutrient concentration. By taking advantage of previous analytical well-posedness results established by the authors, we seek optimal controls in the form of a boundary nutrient supply, as well as concentrations of cytotoxic and antiangiogenic drugs that minimise a cost functional involving mechanical stresses. Special attention is given to sparsity effects, where with the inclusion of convex non-differentiable regularisation terms to the cost functional, we can infer from the first-order optimality conditions that the optimal drug concentrations can vanish on certain time intervals., 26 pages

We investigate the problem of finding the optimal shape and topology of a system of acoustic lenses in a dissipative medium. The sound propagation is governed by a general semilinear strongly damped wave equation. We introduce a phase-field formulation of this problem through diffuse interfaces between the lenses and the surrounding fluid. The resulting formulation is shown to be well-posed and we prove that the corresponding optimization problem has a minimizer. By analyzing properties of the reduced objective functional and well-posedness of the adjoint problem, we rigorously derive first-order optimality conditions for this problem. Additionally, we consider the $\Gamma$-limit of the reduced objective functional and in this way establish a relation between the diffuse interface problem and a perimeter-regularized sharp interface shape optimization problem.

In this article, we study the strong well-posedness, stability and optimal control of an incompressible magneto-viscoelastic fluid model in two dimensions. The model consists of an incompressible Navier–Stokes equation for the velocity field, an evolution equation for the deformation tensor, and a gradient flow equation for the magnetization vector. First, we prove that the model under consideration posseses a global strong solution in a suitable functional framework. Second, we derive stability estimates with respect to an external magnetic field. Based on the stability estimates we use the external magnetic field as the control to minimize a cost functional of tracking-type. We prove existence of an optimal control and derive first-order necessary optimality conditions. Finally, we consider a second optimal control problem, where the external magnetic field, which represents the control, is generated by a finite number of fixed magnetic field coils.

The aim of this paper is to develop suitable models for the phenomenon of cell blebbing, which allow for computational predictions of mechanical effects including the crucial interaction of the cell membrane and the actin cortex. For this sake we resort to a two phase-field model that uses diffuse descriptions of both the membrane and the cortex, which in particular allows for a suitable description of the interaction via linker protein densities. Besides the detailed modelling we discuss some energetic aspects of the models and present a numerical scheme, which allows to carry out several computational studies. In those we demonstrate that several effects found in experiments can be reproduced, in particular bleb formation by cortex rupture, which was not possible by previous models without the linker dynamics.

Phase field models recently gained a lot of interest in the context of tumour growth models. Typically Darcy-type flow models are coupled to Cahn–Hilliard equations. However, often Stokes or Brinkman flows are more appropriate flow models. We introduce and mathematically analyse a new Cahn–Hilliard–Brinkman model for tumour growth allowing for chemotaxis. Outflow boundary conditions are considered in order not to influence tumour growth by artificial boundary conditions. Existence of global-in-time weak solutions is shown in a very general setting.

The elastic flow, which is the $L^2$-gradient flow of the elastic energy, has several applications in geometry and elasticity theory. We present stable discretizations for the elastic flow in two-dimensional Riemannian manifolds that are conformally flat, i.e.\ conformally equivalent to the Euclidean space. Examples include the hyperbolic plane, the hyperbolic disk, the elliptic plane as well as any conformal parameterization of a two-dimensional manifold in ${\mathbb R}^d$, $d\geq 3$. Numerical results show the robustness of the method, as well as quadratic convergence with respect to the space discretization., Minor revision. 31 pages, 6 figures. This article is closely related to arXiv:1809.01973

Two-phase flow of two Newtonian incompressible viscous fluids with a soluble surfactant and different densities of the fluids can be modeled within the diffuse interface approach. We consider a Navier-Stokes/Cahn-Hilliard type system coupled to non-linear diffusion equations that describe the diffusion of the surfactant in the bulk phases as well as along the diffuse interface. Moreover, the surfactant concentration influences the free energy and therefore the surface tension of the diffuse interface. For this system existence of weak solutions globally in time for general initial data is proved. To this end a two-step approximation is used that consists of a regularization of the time continuous system in the first and a time-discretization in the second step., Comment: 29 pages

In this work, we study a model consisting of a Cahn--Hilliard-type equation for the concentration of tumor cells coupled to a reaction-diffusion-type equation for the nutrient density and a Brinkma...

We consider a Cahn--Hilliard model with kinetic rate dependent dynamic boundary conditions that was introduced by Knopf, Lam, Liu and Metzger (ESAIM Math. Model. Numer. Anal., 2021) and will thus be called the KLLM model. In the aforementioned paper, it was shown that solutions of the KLLM model converge to solutions of the GMS model proposed by Goldstein, Miranville and Schimperna (Physica D, 2011) as the kinetic rate tends to infinity. We first collect the weak well-posedness results for both models and we establish some further essential properties of the weak solutions. Afterwards, we investigate the long-time behavior of the KLLM model. We first prove the existence of a global attractor as well as convergence to a single stationary point. Then, we show that the global attractor of the GMS model is stable with respect to perturbations of the kinetic rate. Eventually, we construct exponential attractors for both models, and we show that the exponential attractor associated with the GMS model is robust against kinetic rate perturbations.

A phase field approach for structural topology optimization with application to additive manufacturing is analyzed. The main novelty is the penalization of overhangs (regions of the design that require underlying support structures during construction) with anisotropic energy functionals. Convex and non-convex examples are provided, with the latter showcasing oscillatory behavior along the object boundary termed the dripping effect in the literature. We provide a rigorous mathematical analysis for the structural topology optimization problem with convex and non-continuously-differentiable anisotropies, deriving the first order necessary optimality condition using subdifferential calculus. Via formally matched asymptotic expansions we connect our approach with previous works in the literature based on a sharp interface shape optimization description. Finally, we present several numerical results to demonstrate the advantages of our proposed approach in penalizing overhang developments., Comment: 41 pages, 55 figures

In this work, we consider a diffuse interface model for tumour growth in the presence of a nutrient which is consumed by the tumour. The system of equations consists of a Cahn--Hilliard equation with source terms for the tumour cells and a reaction-diffusion equation for the nutrient. We introduce a fully-discrete finite element approximation of the model and prove stability bounds for the discrete scheme. Moreover, we show that discrete solutions exist and depend continuously on the initial and boundary data. We then pass to the limit in the discretization parameters and prove convergence to a global-in-time weak solution to the model. Under additional assumptions, this weak solution is unique. Finally, we present some numerical results including numerical error investigation in one spatial dimension and some long time simulations in two and three spatial dimensions., Comment: accepted for publication in: Journal of Numerical Mathematics, 2022

We optimize a selection of eigenvalues of the Laplace operator with Dirichlet or Neumann boundary conditions by adjusting the shape of the domain on which the eigenvalue problem is considered. Here, a phase-field function is used to represent the shapes over which we minimize. The idea behind this method is to modify the Laplace operator by introducing phase-field dependent coefficients in order to extend the eigenvalue problem on a fixed design domain containing all admissible shapes. The resulting shape and topology optimization problem can then be formulated as an optimal control problem with PDE constraints in which the phase-field function acts as the control. For this optimal control problem, we establish first-order necessary optimality conditions and we rigorously derive its sharp interface limit. Eventually, we present and discuss several numerical simulations for our optimization problem.

We present variational approximations of boundary value problems for curvature flow (curve shortening flow) and elastic flow (curve straightening flow) in two-dimensional Riemannian manifolds that are conformally flat. For the evolving open curves we propose natural boundary conditions that respect the appropriate gradient flow structure. Based on suitable weak formulations we introduce finite element approximations using piecewise linear elements. For some of the schemes a stability result can be shown. The derived schemes can be employed in very different contexts. For example, we apply the schemes to the Angenent metric in order to numerically compute rotationally symmetric self-shrinkers for the mean curvature flow. Furthermore, we utilise the schemes to compute geodesics that are relevant for optimal interface profiles in multi-component phase field models., 42 pages, 21 figures

Mathematical models that describe the tumor growth process have been formulated by several authors in order to understand how cancer develops and to develop new treatment approaches. In this study, it is aimed to investigate the long-time behavior of the two-phase diffuse-interface model, which was proposed in Hawkins-Daarud et al. (Int J Numer Methods Biomed Eng 28:3–24, 2012) to model a tumor tissue as a mixture of cancerous and healthy cells. Up to now, studies on the long-time behavior of this model have neglected chemotaxis and active transport, which have a significant effect on tumor growth. In this research, our main aim is to study this model with chemotaxis and active transport. We prove an asymptotic compactness result for the weak solutions of the problem in the whole phase-space $$ H^{1}\left( \Omega \right) \times L^{2}\left( \Omega \right) $$ . We establish the existence of the global attractor in a phase space defined via mass conservation. We also prove that the global attractor equals to the unstable manifold emanating from the set of stationary points. Moreover, we obtain that the global attractor has a finite fractal dimension.

The $L^2$--gradient flow of the elastic energy of networks leads to a Willmore type evolution law with nontrivial nonlinear boundary conditions. We show local in time existence and uniqueness for this elastic flow of networks in a Sobolev space setting under natural boundary conditions. In addition we show a regularisation property and geometric existence and uniqueness. The main result is a long time existence result using energy methods.

Parametric finite elements lead to very efficient numerical methods for surface evolution equations. We introduce several computational techniques for curvature driven evolution equations based on a weak formulation for the mean curvature. The approaches discussed, in contrast to many other methods, have good mesh properties that avoid mesh coalescence and very nonuniform meshes. Mean curvature flow, surface diffusion, anisotropic geometric flows, solidification, two-phase flow, Willmore and Helfrich flow as well as biomembranes are treated. We show stability results as well as results explaining the good mesh properties.

We introduce variational approximations for curve evolutions in two-dimensional Riemannian manifolds that are conformally flat, i.e.\ conformally equivalent to the Euclidean space. Examples include the hyperbolic plane, the hyperbolic disk, the elliptic plane as well as any conformal parameterization of a two-dimensional surface in ${\mathbb R}^d$, $d\geq 3$. In these spaces we introduce stable numerical schemes for curvature flow and curve diffusion, and we also formulate a scheme for elastic flow. Variants of the schemes can also be applied to geometric evolution equations for axisymmetric hypersurfaces in ${\mathbb R}^d$. Some of the schemes have very good properties with respect to the distribution of mesh points, which is demonstrated with the help of several numerical computations., Comment: 49 pages, 15 figures

The form and evolution of multi-phase biomembranes is of fundamental importance in order to understand living systems. In order to describe these membranes, we consider a mathematical model based on a Canham--Helfrich--Evans two-phase elastic energy, which will lead to fourth order geometric evolution problems involving highly nonlinear boundary conditions. We develop a parametric finite element method in an axisymmetric setting. Using a variational approach, it is possible to derive weak formulations for the highly nonlinear boundary value problems such that energy decay laws, as well as conservation properties, hold for spatially discretised problems. We will prove these properties and show that the fully discretised schemes are well-posed. Finally, several numerical computations demonstrate that the numerical method can be used to compute complex, experimentally observed two-phase biomembranes., Comment: 44 pages, 14 figures. This article is closely related to arXiv:1911.01132

A finite element method for the evolution of a two-phase membrane in a sharp interface formulation is introduced. The evolution equations are given as an $L^2$--gradient flow of an energy involving an elastic bending energy and a line energy. In the two phases Helfrich-type evolution equations are prescribed, and on the interface, an evolving curve on an evolving surface, highly nonlinear boundary conditions have to hold. Here we consider both $C^0$-- and $C^1$--matching conditions for the surface at the interface. A new weak formulation is introduced, allowing for a stable semidiscrete parametric finite element approximation of the governing equations. In addition, we show existence and uniqueness for a fully discrete version of the scheme. Numerical simulations demonstrate that the approach can deal with a multitude of geometries. In particular, the paper shows the first computations based on a sharp interface description, which are not restricted to the axisymmetric case., Comment: 46 pages, 22 figures

The inpainting of damaged images has a wide range of applications, and many different mathematical methods have been proposed to solve this problem. Inpainting with the help of Cahn--Hilliard models has been particularly successful, and it turns out that Cahn--Hilliard inpainting with the double obstacle potential can lead to better results compared to inpainting with a smooth double well potential. However, a mathematical analysis of this approach is missing so far. In this paper we give first analytical results for a Cahn--Hilliard double obstacle inpainting model regarding existence of global solutions to the time-dependent problem and stationary solutions to the time-independent problem without constraints on the parameters involved. With the help of numerical results we show the effectiveness of the approach for binary and grayscale images., 26 pages, 8 figures, accepted version

A novel volume-of-fluid method to simulate three-dimensional hexagonal solidification processes is presented. The Gibbs-Thomson temperature is calculated using the weighted mean curvature and a height function technique. This boundary condition is applied directly on the sharp interface. A geometric unsplit advection scheme is used to advance the interface to the next timestep. The phase change model is validated against analytical similarity solutions in both two and three dimensions. The influence of the grid resolution on the dendritic growth is studied. Sharper dendrites for increasing resolution were found as a result of the model for the anisotropic surface energy density. Three-dimensional hexagonal growth could be achieved and constrictions were observed in both the basal and prismal planes.

We consider the evolution of triple junction clusters driven by the surface diffusion flow. On the triple line we use the boundary conditions derived by Garcke and Novick-Cohen as the singular limit of a Cahn-Hilliard equation with degenerated mobility. These conditions are the concurrency of the triple junction, angle conditions between the hypersurfaces, continuity of the chemical potentials and a flux-balance. For this system we show stability of its energy minimizers, i.e., standard double bubbles. The main argument relies on a Łojasiewicz-Simon gradient inequality. The proof of it differs from others works due to the fully non-linear boundary conditions and problems with the (non-local) tangential part.

Mechanical effects have mostly been neglected so far in phase field tumour models that are based on a Cahn–Hilliard approach. In this paper we study a macroscopic mechanical model for tumour growth in which cell–cell adhesion effects are taken into account with the help of a Ginzburg–Landau type energy. In the overall model an equation of Cahn–Hilliard type is coupled to the system of linear elasticity and a reaction–diffusion equation for a nutrient concentration. The highly non-linear coupling between a fourth-order Cahn–Hilliard equation and the quasi-static elasticity system lead to new challenges which cannot be dealt within a gradient flow setting which was the method of choice for other elastic Cahn–Hilliard systems. We show existence, uniqueness and regularity results. In addition, several continuous dependence results with respect to different topologies are shown. Some of these results give uniqueness for weak solutions and other results will be helpful for optimal control problems.

We present natural axisymmetric variants of schemes for curvature flows introduced earlier by the present authors and analyze them in detail. Although numerical methods for geometric flows have been used frequently in axisymmetric settings, numerical analysis results so far are rare. In this paper, we present stability, equidistribution, existence and uniqueness results for the introduced approximations. Numerical computations show that these schemes are very efficient in computing numerical solutions of geometric flows as only a spatially one-dimensional problem has to be solved. The good mesh properties of the schemes also allow them to compute in very complex axisymmetric geometries., Comment: 49 pages, 17 figures

We show short time existence for the evolution of triple junction clusters driven by the surface diffusion flow. On the triple line we use the boundary conditions derived by Garcke and Novick-Cohen as the singular limit of a Cahn-Hilliard equation with degenerated mobility. These conditions are concurrency of the triple junction, angle conditions between the hypersurfaces, continuity of the chemical potentials and a flux-balance. For the existence analysis we first write the geometric problem over a fixed reference surface and then use for the resulting analytic problem an approach in a parabolic Hölder setting.

Geometric gradient flows for elastic energies of Willmore type play an important role in mathematics and in many applications. The evolution of elastic curves has been studied in detail both for closed as well as for open curves. Although elastic flows for networks also have many interesting features, they have not been studied so far from the point of view of mathematical analysis. So far it was not even clear what are appropriate boundary conditions at junctions. In this paper we give a well-posedness result for Willmore flow of networks in different geometric settings and hence lay a foundation for further mathematical analysis. A main point in the proof is to check whether different proposed boundary conditions lead to a well posed problem. In this context one has to check the Lopatinskii–Shapiro condition in order to apply the Solonnikov theory for linear parabolic systems in Holder spaces which is needed in a fixed point argument. We also show that the solution we get is unique in a purely geometric sense.

We show that the mean curvature flow for a closed and rotationally symmetric surface can be formulated as an evolution problem consisting of an evolution equation for the square of the function whose graph is rotated and two ODEs describing the evolution of the points of the evolving surface that lie on the rotation axis. For the fully nonlinear and degenerate parabolic problem we establish the well-posedness property in the setting of classical solutions. Besides we prove that the problem features the effect of parabolic smoothing., Comment: 19 pages

Parameters in mathematical models for glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) tumour growth are highly patient specific. Here, we aim to estimate parameters in a Cahn-Hilliard type diffuse interface model in an optimised way using model order reduction (MOR) based on proper orthogonal decomposition (POD). Based on snapshots derived from finite element simulations for the full-order model (FOM), we use POD for dimension reduction and solve the parameter estimation for the reduced-order model (ROM). Neuroimaging data are used to define the highly inhomogeneous diffusion tensors as well as to define a target functional in a patient-specific manner. The ROM heavily relies on the discrete empirical interpolation method, which has to be appropriately adapted in order to deal with the highly nonlinear and degenerate parabolic partial differential equations. A feature of the approach is that we iterate between full order solvers with new parameters to compute a POD basis function and sensitivity-based parameter estimation for the ROM problems. The algorithm is applied using neuroimaging data for two clinical test cases, and we can demonstrate that the reduced-order approach drastically decreases the computational effort.

A phase field model for tumour growth is introduced that is based on a Brinkman law for convective velocity fields. The model couples a convective Cahn-Hilliard equation for the evolution of the tumour to a reaction-diffusion-advection equation for a nutrient and to a Brinkman-Stokes type law for the fluid velocity. The model is derived from basic thermodynamical principles, sharp interface limits are derived by matched asymptotics and an existence theory is presented for the case of a mobility which degenerates in one phase leading to a degenerate parabolic equation of fourth order. Finally numerical results describe qualitative features of the solutions and illustrate instabilities in certain situations., 46 pages, 15 figures

We study the existence of weak solutions to a Cahn-Hilliard-Darcy system coupled witha convection-reaction-diffusion equation through the fluxes, through the source terms and in Darcy’slaw. The system of equations arises from a mixture model for tumour growth accounting for transportmechanisms such as chemotaxis and active transport. We prove, via a Galerkin approximation, theexistence of global weak solutions in two and three dimensions, along with new regularity results forthe velocity field and for the pressure. Due to the coupling with the Darcy system, the time derivativeshave lower regularity compared to systems without Darcy flow, but in the two dimensional case weemploy a new regularity result for the velocity to obtain better integrability and temporal regularityfor the time derivatives. Then, we deduce the global existence of weak solutions for two variantsof the model; one where the velocity is zero and another where the chemotaxis and active transportmechanisms are absent.

We present a parametric finite element approximation of a fluidic membrane, whose evolution is governed by a surface Navier–Stokes equation coupled to bulk Navier–Stokes equations. The elastic properties of the membrane are modelled with the help of curvature energies of Willmore and Helfrich type. Forces stemming from these energies act on the surface fluid, together with a forcing from the bulk fluid. Using ideas from PDE constrained optimization, a weak formulation is derived, which allows for a stable semi-discretization. An important new feature of the present work is that we are able to also deal with spontaneous curvature and an area difference elasticity contribution in the curvature energy. This allows for the modelling of asymmetric membranes, which compared to the symmetric case lead to quite different shapes. This is demonstrated in the numerical computations presented.

We consider a diffuse interface model for tumour growth consisting of a Cahn--Hilliard equation with source terms coupled to a reaction-diffusion equation. The coupled system of partial differential equations models a tumour growing in the presence of a nutrient species and surrounded by healthy tissue. The model also takes into account transport mechanisms such as chemotaxis and active transport. We establish well-posedness results for the tumour model and a variant with a quasi-static nutrient. It will turn out that the presence of the source terms in the Cahn--Hilliard equation leads to new difficulties when one aims to derive a priori estimates. However, we are able to prove continuous dependence on initial and boundary data for the chemical potential and for the order parameter in strong norms., 29 pages, minor typos corrected, accepted for publication

We formulate a general shape and topology optimization problem in structural optimization by using a phase field approach. This problem is considered in view of well-posedness, and we derive optimality conditions with minimal regularity assumptions. We relate the diffuse interface problem to a perimeter penalized sharp interface shape optimization problem in the sense of $\Gamma$-convergence of the reduced objective functional. Additionally, the convergence of the equations of the first variation can be shown. The limit equations can also be derived directly from the problem in the sharp interface setting. Numerical computations demonstrate that the approach can be applied for complex structural optimization problems.

© 2016 Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics.A new stable continuous-in-time semidiscrete parametric finite element method for Willmore flow is introduced. The approach allows for spontaneous curvature and area difference elasticity effects, which are important for many applications, in particular, in the context of membranes. The method extends ideas from Dziuk and the present authors to obtain an approximation that allows for a tangential redistribution of mesh points, which typically leads to better mesh properties. Moreover, we consider volume and surface area preserving variants of these schemes and, in particular, we obtain stable approximations of Helfrich flow. We also discuss fully discrete variants and present several numerical computations.

Fourth order curvature driven interface evolution equations frequently appear in the natural sciences. Often axisymmetric geometries are of interest, and in this situation numerical computations are much more efficient. We will introduce and analyze several new finite element schemes for fourth order geometric evolution equations in an axisymmetric setting, and for selected schemes we will show existence, uniqueness and stability results. The presented schemes have very good mesh and stability properties, as will be demonstrated by several numerical examples., Revised version. 37 pages, 27 figures. This article is closely related to arXiv:1805.04322

We study the existence of weak solutions to a mixture model for tumour growth that consists of a Cahn–Hilliard–Darcy system coupled with an elliptic reaction-diffusion equation. The Darcy law gives rise to an elliptic equation for the pressure that is coupled to the convective Cahn–Hilliard equation through convective and source terms. Both Dirichlet and Robin boundary conditions are considered for the pressure variable, which allow for the source terms to be dependent on the solution variables.

Topology changes in multi-phase fluid flows are difficult to model within a traditional sharp interface theory. Diffuse interface models turn out to be an attractive alternative to model two-phase flows. Based on a Cahn-Hilliard-Navier-Stokes model introduced by Abels, Garcke and Gr\"{u}n (Math. Models Methods Appl. Sci. 2012), which uses a volume averaged velocity, we derive a diffuse interface model in a Hele-Shaw geometry, which in the case of non-matched densities, simplifies an earlier model of Lee, Lowengrub and Goodman (Phys. Fluids 2002). We recover the classical Hele-Shaw model as a sharp interface limit of the diffuse interface model. Furthermore, we show the existence of weak solutions and present several numerical computations including situations with rising bubbles and fingering instabilities., Comment: 41 pages, 75 figures