Discrete duality finite volume scheme for a generalized Joule heating problem (Q6151543)

The authors consider a discrete duality finite volume scheme for a time dependent generalized thermistor system. This system includes the \(p\)-Laplace operator and one of its right hands involves a term which is only in the space \(L^1(\Omega)\). One of the main facts to take into account is that the system is non-linear and the right hand side is not smooth which make the application of the standard techniques of the approximation not straightforward. The authors first derive approximations for the fluxes. Such approximation yields stability and consistence which rely on some discrete a priori estimates proved for the temperature and the electric potential. These estimates are used to prove the existence of the discrete solution and also some compactness results which are used in turn to prove the convergence towards a weak solution of the continuous problem. Some numerical tests are presented to show the accuracy of the proposed finite volume scheme.