Finite element approximation of a model for phase separation of a multi-component alloy with non-smooth free energy (Q1361786)

This is a long and yet compactly written paper with many nice features. The authors consider a partial differential equation model for the isothermal phase separation of a multicomponent mixture, when quenched into an unstable state. A piecewise linear finite element approximation is used and combined with a backward Euler time discretization; the resulting nonlinear equations are solved iteratively. The authors analyze the computations and provide error bounds. Numerical experiments are performed in one and two space dimensions. In the one-dimensional case some computed steady states are compared with explicitly constructed solutions to the stationary equations.