2015/07/21 by James, Francois, Mathis, Hélène
#Analysis of PDEs (math.AP) #FOS: Mathematics #FOS: Physical sciences #Statistical Mechanics (cond-mat.stat-mech)
paper · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1507.06333
We propose a model that describes phase transition including meta\-stable states present in the van der Waals Equation of State. From a convex optimization problem on the Helmoltz free energy of a mixture, we deduce a dynamical system that is able to depict the mass transfer between two phases, for which equilibrium states are either metastable states, stable states or a coexistent state. The dynamical system is then used as a relaxation source term in an isothermal 4×4 two-phase model. We use a Finite Volume scheme that treats the convective part and the source term in a fractional step way. Numerical results illustrate the ability of the model to capture phase transition and metastable states.