On the well-posed coupling between free fluid and porous viscous flows

Abstract

We present a well-posed model for the Stokes/Brinkman problem with a family of jump embedded boundary conditions (J.E.B.C.) on an immersed interface with weak regularity assumptions. It arises from a general framework recently proposed for fictitious domain problems. Our model is based on algebraic transmission conditions combining the stress and velocity jumps on the interface Σ separating the fluid and porous domains. These conditions are well chosen to get the coercivity of the operator. Then, the general framework allows us to prove new results on the global solvability of some models with physically relevant stress or velocity jump boundary conditions for the momentum transport at a fluid–porous interface. The Stokes/Brinkman problem with Ochoa-Tapia and Whitaker (1995) [9,10] interface conditions and the Stokes/Darcy problem with Beavers and Joseph (1967) [13] conditions are both proved to be well-posed, by an asymptotic analysis. Up to now, only the Stokes/Darcy problem with Saffman (1971) [15] approximate interface conditions with negligible tangential porous velocity was known to be well-posed.