OxPDE

We consider a system of nonlinear partial differential equations modelling the steady motion of an incompressible non-Newtonian fluid, which is chemically reacting. The governing system consists of a steady convection-diffusion equation for the concentration and the generalized steady Navier–Stokes equations, where the viscosity coefficient is a power-law type function of the shear-rate, and the coupling between the equations results from the concentration-dependence of the power-law index. This system of nonlinear partial differential equations arises in mathematical models of the synovial fluid found in the cavities of moving joints. We construct a finite element approximation of the model and perform the mathematical analysis of the numerical method. Key technical tools include discrete counterparts of the Bogovski operator, De Giorgi’s regularity theorem and the Acerbi–Fusco Lipschitz truncation of Sobolev functions, in function spaces with variable integrability exponents.

In this talk we consider the issue of mass loss in fragmentation models due to 'shattering'. As a solution we propose a hybrid discrete/continuous model whereby the smaller particles are considered as having discrete mass, whilst above a certain cut-off, mass is taken to be a continuous variable. The talk covers the development of such a model, its initial analysis via the theory of operator semigroups and its numerical approximation using a finite volume discretisation.

We introduce a discontinuous Galerkin finite element method (DGFEM) for Hamilton–Jacobi–Bellman equations on piecewise curved domains, and prove that the method is consistent, stable, and produces optimal convergence rates. Upon utilising a long standing result due to N. Krylov, we may characterise the Monge–Ampère equation as a HJB equation; in two dimensions, this HJB equation can be characterised further as uniformly elliptic HJB equation, allowing for the application of the DGFEM

In 2016-17, Fjordholm, Kappeli, Mishra and Tadmor developed a numerical method by which one could compute measure-valued solutions to systems of hyperbolic conservation laws with either measure-valued or deterministic initial data. In this talk I will discuss the ideas behind this method, and discuss how it can be adapted to systems of quasi-linear parabolic PDEs whose nonlinearity fails to satisfy a monotonicity condition.

The new schedule will follow shortly

We first provide a brief overview of some of the key properties of the space $\textrm{BV}(\Omega;\mathbb{R}^{N})$ of functions of Bounded Variation, and the motivation for its use in the Calculus of Variations. Now consider the variational integral

\[

F(u;\Omega):=\int_{\Omega}f(Du(x))\,\textrm{d} x\,\textrm{,}

\]

where $\Omega\subset\mathbb{R}^{n}$ is open and bounded, and $f\colon\mathbb{R}^{N\times n}\rightarrow\mathbb{R}$ is a continuous function satisfying the growth condition $0\leq f(\xi)\leq L(1+|\xi|^{r})$ for some exponent $r$. When $u\in\textrm{BV}(\Omega;\mathbb{R}^{N})$, we extend the definition of $F(u;\Omega)$ by introducing the functional

\[

\mathscr{F}(u,\Omega):= \inf_{(u_{j})}\bigg\{ \liminf_{j\rightarrow\infty}\int_{\Omega}f(Du_{j})\,\textrm{d} x\, \left|

\!\!\begin{array}{r}

(u_{j})\subset W_{\textrm{loc}}^{1,r}(\Omega, \mathbb{R}^{N}) \\

u_{j} \stackrel{\ast}{\rightharpoonup} u\,\,\textrm{in }\textrm{BV}(\Omega, \mathbb{R}^{N})

\end{array} \right. \bigg\} \,\textrm{.}

\]

\noindent For $r\in [1,\frac{n}{n-1})$, we prove that $\mathscr{F}$ satisfies the lower bound

\[

\mathscr{F}(u,\Omega) \geq \int_{\Omega} f(\nabla u (x))\,\textrm{d} x + \int_{\Omega}f_{\infty} \bigg(\frac{D^{s}u}{|D^{s}u|}\bigg)\,|D^{s}u|\,\textrm{,}

\]

provided $f$ is quasiconvex, and the recession function $f_{\infty}$ ($:= \overline{\lim}_{t\rightarrow\infty}f(t\xi )/t$) is assumed to be finite in certain rank-one directions. This result is a natural extension of work by Ambrosio and Dal Maso, which deals with the case $r=1$; it involves combining work of Kristensen, Braides and Coscia with some new techniques, including a polyhedral approximation result and a blow-up argument that exploits fine properties of BV functions.