New look at an old principle: an alternative formulation of the theorem of minimum entropy production

We formulate a direct generalization of the Prigogine’s principle of minimum entropy production, according to a new isoperimetric variation principle by classical non-equilibrium thermodynamics. We focus our attention on the possible mathematical forms of constitutive equations. Our results show that the Onsager’s reciprocity relations are consequences of the suggested variation principle. Furthermore, we show by the example of the thermo-diffusion such reciprocity relations for diffusion tensor, which are missing in Onsager’s theory. Our theorem applied to the non-linear constitutive equations indicates the existence of dissipation potential. We study the forms of general reciprocity with the dissipation potential. This consideration results in a weaker condition than Li-Gyarmati-Rysselberhe reciprocity has. Furthermore, in the case of electric conductivity in the magnetic field, our theorem shows the correct dependence of the Onsager’s kinetic coefficient by the axial vector of magnetic induction. We show in general that the evolution criterion of the global entropy production is a Lyapunov-function, and so the final stationer state is independent of the initial, time-independent boundary conditions.