In this paper, the equilibrium behavior of an immiscible two phase fluid on a rough surface is studied from a phase field equation derived from minimizing the total free energy of the system. When the size of the roughness becomes small, we derive the effective boundary condition for the equation by the multiple scale expansion homogenization technique. The Wenzel and Cassie equations for the a...

A 3D-2D dimensional reduction analysis for supremal functionals is performed in the realm of Γ-convergence. We show that the limit functional still admits a supremal representation, and we provide a precise identification of its density in some particular cases. Our results rely on an abstract representation theorem for the Γ-limit of a family of supremal functionals. Mathematics Subject Classi...

This paper deals with the passage from discrete to continuous in modeling the static elastic properties, in the setting of anti-planar linear elasticity, of vertical screw dislocations in a cylindrical crystal. We study, in the framework of Γ-convergence, the asymptotic behavior of the elastic stored energy induced by dislocations as the atomic scale ε tends to zero, in the regime of dilute dis...

BACKGROUND Hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD) is a brominated flame retardant used in polystyrene foams in thermal insulation and electrical equipment. The HBCD commercial mixture consists mainly of α, β, and γ stereoisomers. Health concerns of HBCD exposure include alterations in immune and reproductive systems, neurotoxic effects, and endocrine disruption. Stereoisomer-specific levels of HBCD have...

We deal with a class of reaction-diffusion equations, in space dimension d > 1, perturbed by a Gaussian noise ∂wδ/∂t which is white in time and colored in space. We assume that the noise has a small correlation radius δ, so that it converges to the white noise ∂w/∂t, as δ ↓ 0. By using arguments of Γ-convergence, we prove that, under suitable assumptions, the quasi-potential Vδ converges to the...

We consider a two-dimensional atomic mass spring system and show that in the small displacement regime the corresponding discrete energies can be related to a continuum Griffith energy functional in the sense of Γ-convergence. We also analyze the continuum problem for a rectangular bar under tensile boundary conditions and find that depending on the boundary loading the minimizers are either ho...

We prove the stability of a large class of unilateral minimality properties which arise naturally in the theory of crack propagation proposed by Francfort and Marigo in [22]. Then we give an application to the quasistatic evolution of cracks in composite materials.

We give results for the Γ-limit of a scaled elastic energy of a film as the thickness h > 0 converges to zero. The elastic energy density models materials with multiple phases or variants and is thus non-convex. The model includes an interfacial energy that allows sharp interfaces between the phases and variants and is proportional to the total variation of the deformation gradient.