On a new model for continuous coalescence and breakage processes with diffusion

Abstract

We study a new model for the evolution of a liquid-liquid dispersion. The droplets of the dispersed phase are supposed to move due to diffusion and to undergo coalescence and breakage. The main feature of the model is the inclusion of a maximal droplet size. This requires a consistent mechanism opposing the increase of droplets due to coalescence. The resulting system of uncountably many coupled reaction-diffusion equations is interpreted as a vector-valued Cauchy problem. We prove existence and uniqueness of nonnegative and mass-preserving solutions. Furthermore, we give sufficient conditions for global existence.