We investigate the evolution of an almost flat membrane driven by competition of the homogeneous, Frank, and bending energies as well as the coupling of the local order of the constituent molecules of the membrane to its curvature. We propose an alternative to the model in [J.B. Fournier and P. Galatoa, J. Phys. II 7 (1997) 1509-1520; N. Uchida, Phys. Rev. E 66 (2002) 040902] which replaces a Ginzburg-Landau penalization for the length of the order parameter by a rigid constraint. We introduce a fully discrete scheme, consisting of piecewise linear finite elements, show that it is unconditionally stable for a large range of the elastic moduli in the model, and prove its convergence (up to subsequences) thereby proving the existence of a weak solution to the continuous model. Numerical simulations are included that examine typical model situations, confirm our theory, and explore numerical predictions beyond that theory.
@article{M2AN_2010__44_1_1_0,
author = {Bartels, S\"oren and Dolzmann, Georg and Nochetto, Ricardo H.},
title = {A finite element scheme for the evolution of orientational order in fluid membranes},
journal = {ESAIM: Mathematical Modelling and Numerical Analysis - Mod\'elisation Math\'ematique et Analyse Num\'erique},
volume = {44},
year = {2010},
pages = {1-31},
doi = {10.1051/m2an/2009040},
mrnumber = {2647752},
zbl = {pre05693764},
language = {en},
url = {http://dml.mathdoc.fr/item/M2AN_2010__44_1_1_0}
}
Bartels, Sören; Dolzmann, Georg; Nochetto, Ricardo H. A finite element scheme for the evolution of orientational order in fluid membranes. ESAIM: Mathematical Modelling and Numerical Analysis - Modélisation Mathématique et Analyse Numérique, Tome 44 (2010) pp. 1-31. doi : 10.1051/m2an/2009040. http://gdmltest.u-ga.fr/item/M2AN_2010__44_1_1_0/
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