A Bidimensional Phase-Field Model with Convection for ChangePhase of an Alloy

The article analyzes a two-dimensional phase-field model for a non-stationary process of solidification of a binary alloy with thermal properties. The model allows the occurrence of fluid flow in non-solid regions, which are a priori unknown, and is thusassociated to a free boundary value problem for a highly non-linear system of partial differential equations. These equations are the phase-field equation, the heat equation, the concentration equation and a modified Navier-Stokes equations obtained by the addition of a penalization term of Carman-Kozeny type, which accounts for the mushy effects, and also of a Boussinesq term to take in care of the effects of variations of temperature and concentration in the flow. A proof of existence of weak solutions for such system is given. The problem is firstly approximated and a sequence of approximate solutions is obtained by Leray-Schauder fixed point theorem. A solution is then found by using compactness argument.