Dynamic changes of phase in a van der Waals fluid

This paper gives sufficient conditions to guarantee the existence of a shock layer solution connecting two different equilibrium states in a van der Waals fluid. In particular, the equilibrium states can belong to two different phases of the fluid. The constitutive laws come from a modified Korteweg theory which is compatible with the Clausius Duhem inequality. The Clausius Duhem inequality in turn gives rise to a Liapunov function. The main mathematical tool is the LaSalle invariance principle.