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Nonlinear models for pattern evolution by ion beam sputtering on a material surface present an ongoing oportunity for new numerical simulations. A numerical analysis of the evolution of preexisting patterns is proposed to investigate surface dynamics, based on a 2D anisotropic damped Kuramoto-Sivashinsky equation, with periodic boundary conditions. A finite-difference semi-implicit time splitting scheme is employed on the discretization of the governing equation. Simulations were conducted with realistic coefficients related to physical parameters (anisotropies, beam orientation, diffusion). The stability of the numerical scheme is analyzed with time step and grid spacing tests for the pattern evolution, and the Method of Manufactured Solutions has been used to verify the proposed scheme. Ripples and hexagonal patterns were obtained from a monomodal initial condition for certain values of the damping coefficient, while spatiotemporal chaos appeared for lower values. The anisotropy effects on pattern formation were studied, varying the angle of incidence of the ion beam with respect to the irradiated surface. Analytical discussions are based on linear and weakly nonlinear analysis.

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Summary A boundary‐fitted moving mesh scheme is presented for the simulation of two‐phase flow in two‐dimensional and axisymmetric geometries. The incompressible Navier‐Stokes equations are solved using the finite element method, and the mini element is used to satisfy the inf‐sup condition. The interface between the phases is represented explicitly by an interface adapted mesh, thus allowing a sharp transition of the fluid properties. Surface tension is modelled as a volume force and is discretized in a consistent manner, thus allowing to obtain exact equilibrium (up to rounding errors) with the pressure gradient. This is demonstrated for a spherical droplet moving in a constant flow field. The curvature of the interface, required for the surface tension term, is efficiently computed with simple but very accurate geometric formulas. An adaptive moving mesh technique, where smoothing mesh velocities and remeshing are used to preserve the mesh quality, is developed and presented. Mesh refinement strategies, allowing tailoring of the refinement of the computational mesh, are also discussed. Accuracy and robustness of the present method are demonstrated on several validation test cases. The method is developed with the prospect of being applied to microfluidic flows and the simulation of microchannel evaporators used for electronics cooling. Therefore, the simulation results for the flow of a bubble in a microchannel are presented and compared to experimental data.

The safety and efficacy of drug-eluting stents are strongly influenced by the transport of the antiproliferative/anti-inflammatory drugs in the arterial wall. Dissolution in the polymer coating and specific binding in the artery wall play an important role in the process. We consider the model of dissolution, transport and binding of sirolimus on an axisymmetric domain representing the polymer coating layer and the porous artery wall in the vicinity of a stent strut. We employ the FEM on an unstructured mesh to discretize the governing equations. We employ a nonlinear dissolution model for the dynamics in the coating, and a nonlinear saturable binding model that includes both specific and non-specific binding in the arterial wall as separate phases, as proposed by McGinty and Pontrelli (J Math Chem 54:967-976, 2016). The arterial wall is considered an anisotropic porous media, and the flow is considered to be governed by Darcy flow. The permeability in the polymer coating is considered to be very small, but finite. The endothelium lamina, where present, is modelled as a no-flow boundary. The effect of slow and fast release polymers is considered, showing that the time evolution of the process can be efficiently controlled by the polymer diffusion coefficient. In fact, an order of magnitude decrease in the polymer diffusion coefficient results in an order of magnitude increase in the time of drug delivery. It is estimated that 52-54% of the sirolimus mass actually diffuses into the arterial wall. However, the spatial distribution of the sirolimus is greatly influenced by the flow and the arterial wall properties, being therefore susceptible to patient health conditions.

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