An energy-stable parametric finite element method for the planar Willmore flow

Abstract: We propose an energy-stable parametric finite element method (PFEM) for the planar Willmore flow and establish its unconditional energy stability of the full discretization scheme. The key lies in the introduction of two novel geometric identities to describe the planar Willmore flow: the first one involves the coupling of the outward unit normal vector $\boldsymbol{n}$ and the normal velocity $V$, and the second one concerns the time derivative of the mean curvature $\kappa$. Based on them, we derive a set of new geometric partial differential equations for the planar Willmore flow, leading to our new fully-discretized and unconditionally energy-stable PFEM. Our stability analysis is also based on the two new geometric identities. Extensive numerical experiments are provided to illustrate its efficiency and validate its unconditional energy stability.