On the Two-Dimensional Muskat Problem with Monotone Large Initial Data

Abstract

We consider the evolution of two incompressible, immiscible fluids with different densities in porous media, known as the Muskat problem [21], which in two dimensions is analogous to the Hele-Shaw cell [26]. We establish, for a class of large and monotone initial data, the global existence of weak solutions. The proof is based on a local well-posedness result for the initial data with certain specific asymptotics at spatial infinity and a new maximum principle for the first derivative of the graph function.

To appear in Comm. Pure and Appl. Math