An energy-stable minimal deformation rate scheme for mean curvature flow and surface diffusion

Abstract

We propose a new parametric finite element method, referred to as the BGN-MDR method, for simulating both mean curvature flow and surface diffusion for closed hypersurfaces, as well as open hypersurfaces with moving contact lines in three dimensions. The method is also applicable to closed and open curves with moving contact points in two dimensions. The proposed scheme inherits the energy stability from the BGN scheme proposed by Barrett, Garcke, and N\"urnberg in 2008, and offers improved mesh quality similar to the minimal deformation rate (MDR) method proposed by Hu and Li in 2022, especially for small time step sizes where the BGN scheme may become unstable and result in deteriorated meshes.