A family of second order, linear, unconditionally stable methods for the Cahn-Hilliard-Navier-Stokes equations

Abstract

We present a family of second-order, linear, unconditionally stable implicit-explicit (IMEX) methods for the Cahn-Hilliard-Navier-Stokes (CHNS) equations modeling matched-density two-phase flows. The proposed semi-discrete scheme combines extrapolation of the nonlinear terms with an auxiliary-variable formulation of the nonlinear free-energy term and a temporal-curvature regularization controlled by a parameter $\epsilon$. We establish a discrete energy estimate showing unconditional long-time stability of the method for $\theta \in (1/2,1]$ and $\epsilon \ge 0$. The resulting scheme requires only linear solves at each time step. Numerical experiments demonstrate approximately second-order temporal convergence and examine mass conservation, energy dissipation, numerical robustness, and several representative interfacial-flow problems, including spinodal decomposition, droplet shape relaxation, two-phase lid-driven cavity flow, and Rayleigh-Taylor instability.