Abstract
We analyse a model of polyelectrolyte gels that was proposed by the authors in previous work. We first demonstrate that the model can be derived using Onsager's variational principle, a general procedure for obtaining equations in soft condensed matter physics. The model is shown to have a unique steady state under the assumption that a suitably defined mechanical energy density satisfies a convexity condition. We then perform a detailed study of the stability of the steady state in the spatially one-dimensional case, obtaining bounds on the relaxation rate. Numerical simulations for the spatially one-dimensional problem are presented, confirming the analytical calculations on stability.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 1241-1285 |
Number of pages | 45 |
Journal | Nonlinearity |
Volume | 27 |
Issue number | 6 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jun 2014 |
Keywords
- Onsagers variational principle
- ionic electrodiffusion
- polyelectrolyte gel
- stability analysis
- two phase model