Existence and uniqueness of nonmonotone solutions in porous media flow

Abstract

Existence and uniqueness of solutions for a simplified model of immiscible two-phase flow in porous media are obtained in this paper. The mathematical model is a simplified physical model with hysteresis in the flux functions. The resulting semilinear hyperbolic-parabolic equation is expected from numerical work to admit non-monotone imbibition-drainage fronts. We prove the local existence of imbibition-drainage fronts. The uniqueness, global existence, maximal regularity and boundedness of the solutions are also discussed. Methodically, the results are established by means of semigroup theory and fractional interpolation spaces.