Many two-phase flow problems are quite complicated due to the existence of moving contact lines and shape transition of two-phase interfaces. Both numerical simulations and analytical study for these problems are very challenging, especially to quantitatively compare with physical experiments. In this talk, we will show that the Onsager principle could be used as a powerful approximation tool in these problems. This is illustrated by examples like sliding droplets on an inclined surface, capillary rising for a thin soap film, and contact angle hysteresis, etc. This is a joint work with Yana Di and Masao Doi.

Xu Xianmin obtained his PhD from School of Mathematics Sciences, Nankai University in 2009. After postdoctoral appointment (2009-2011) at Department of Mathematics, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, he worked as visiting scholar at IGPM, RWTH-Aachen University from 2011 to 2013. Later he joined Institute of Computational Mathematics and Scientific\ Engineering Computing (CAS), where he is now an Associate Professor. His research interests are focused on Modeling, analysis and numerical methods for multi-scale multi-physics problems in soft matter.