A relaxation model for liquid-vapor phase change with metastability

Abstract: We propose a model that describes phase transition including meta-stable states present in the van der Waals Equation of State. From a convex optimization problem on the Helmoltz free energy of a mixture, we deduce a dynamical system that is able to depict the mass transfer between two phases, for which equilibrium states are either metastable states, stable states or {a coexistent state}. The dynamical system is then used as a relaxation source term in an isothermal 4$\times$4 two-phase model. We use a Finite Volume scheme that treats the convective part and the source term in a fractional step way. Numerical results illustrate the ability of the model to capture phase transition and metastable states.