An elliptic regularization approach to the Stefan problem

Abstract

In this paper, we develop the theory for the two-phase Stefan problem with finite energy, possibly non-empty mushy region, and space-dependent melting temperature. Specifically, we prove the existence of weak solutions with an elliptic regularization scheme. Our existence theorem provides information about the regularity of the solutions: we prove that the temperature of weak solutions is in $H^1$ for all times, that the enthalpy is well defined and bounded for all times, and that both the enthalpy and the temperature are weakly continuous in time. Finally, we establish a comparison principle for weak solutions on general unbounded domains and use it to show that every weak solution is recovered by the approximation scheme.