Relative energy approach to a diffuse interface model of a compressible two‐phase flow

Source abstract

We propose a simple model for a two‐phase flow with a diffuse interface. The model couples the compressible Navier‐Stokes system governing the evolution of the fluid density and the velocity field with the Allen‐Cahn equation for the order parameter. We show that the model is thermodynamically consistent, in particular, a variant of the relative energy inequality holds. As a corollary, we show the weak‐strong uniqueness principle, meaning any weak solution coincides with the strong solution emanating from the same initial data on the life span of the latter. Such a result plays a crucial role in the analysis of the associated numerical schemes. Finally, we perform the low Mach number limit obtaining the standard incompressible model.