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Finite element approximation for the dynamics of fluidic two-phase biomembranes. (English) Zbl 1383.35153

Summary: Biomembranes and vesicles consisting of multiple phases can attain a multitude of shapes, undergoing complex shape transitions. We study a Cahn-Hilliard model on an evolving hypersurface coupled to Navier-Stokes equations on the surface and in the surrounding medium to model these phenomena. The evolution is driven by a curvature energy, modelling the elasticity of the membrane, and by a Cahn-Hilliard type energy, modelling line energy effects. A stable semidiscrete finite element approximation is introduced and, with the help of a fully discrete method, several phenomena occurring for two-phase membranes are computed.

MSC:

35Q35 PDEs in connection with fluid mechanics
65M12 Stability and convergence of numerical methods for initial value and initial-boundary value problems involving PDEs
65M60 Finite element, Rayleigh-Ritz and Galerkin methods for initial value and initial-boundary value problems involving PDEs
76D05 Navier-Stokes equations for incompressible viscous fluids
76D27 Other free boundary flows; Hele-Shaw flows
76M10 Finite element methods applied to problems in fluid mechanics
76Z99 Biological fluid mechanics
92C05 Biophysics