On Bloch waves for the Stokes equations (Q2641663)

The Bloch wave decomposition for the Stokes equations in periodic media in \(\mathbb{R}^d\) is studied. For any Bloch frequency \(\xi \in Y'\) the following Stokes system is considered: Find \(\lambda (\xi) \in R, \phi \neq 0 \in H^1_\sharp (Y)^d, p\in L^2_\sharp(Y)\) such that \[ \begin{cases} -D(\xi).(\mu(y)D(\xi)\phi)+\kappa(y)\phi+D(\xi)p=\lambda (\xi) \phi &\text{in } Y\\ D(\xi).\phi=0 &\text{in } Y, \end{cases}\tag{1} \] where \(D(\xi)=(\nabla + i\xi), \mu \in L^\infty _\sharp (Y)\) is a given uniformly positive viscosity, \(\kappa \in L^\infty _\sharp (Y)\) is a given damping coefficient, \(Y=[0, 2\pi[^d\) is the unit cell, \(Y'=[0, 1[^d\) is the dual cell, \(\mu(y) \geq \mu_0 >0, \kappa(y) > 1\) a.e. in \(Y\). First the authors study the simpler non-homogeneous Stokes problem (the right hand side of (1) is replaced by a fixed force term). The method of Bloch wave decomposition (or Floquet decomposition) is extended to the Stokes equations of incompressible fluid mechanics or equivalently to the equations of linear incompressible elasticity. Main results: The authors prove that there exists a new family of spectral Stokes problems, featuring the additional constraint \(\int_Y e.\phi \,dy = 0\), which are the limits of (1) when \(\xi\) goes to 0 in a fixed direction \(e\). The precise proof is proposed that eigenvalues and eigenfunctions are thus directionally analytic. The regularity of each direction \(e\) of the eigenvalues and eigenfunctions (due to Lyapunov-Schmidt method) is shown. The authors partially recover the usual homogenized effective tensor of Stokes equations, whose entries are linked to the second-order derivatives of the first eigenvalues. The Bloch decomposition and the regularity of the Bloch waves are studied in the case of a periodically perforated domain (in a similar way as for nonperforated domains). Finally some 2D numerical computations are presented which illustrate the discontinuity of the Bloch eigenvalues.